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PDMS RSS Feed DescriptionThu, 08 Oct 2015 12:01:09 GMTTue, 26 Sep 2017 22:55:38 GMTenUmbraco
Getting a slice of the future Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/sep/getting-a-slice-of-the-future/
For many years now, I have been waiting with great anticipation to see what Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc., would innovate to improve humankind as we know it. With many successful previous and ongoing ventures, Tesla, Inc. must surely be one of his most intriguing. Named after the famous physicist, Nikola Tesla, the company made its mark on the world in 2008 with ‘The Roadster’, the first fully electric sports car, retailing at nearly $110,000, of which the company only sold 2,400 units up until now. It wasn’t the car that Musk believed would change the current automotive market, but it created a good indication as to where the company was going – to create a more affordable electric car. Then in 2012 along came the luxury hatchback, ‘Tesla Model S’ which cost almost $58,000 - still not within reach of the general mainstream consumer. When the ‘Model X’ was released soon afterwards, for $75,000, owning a slice of the future still seemed out of reach. Now we have the Model 3. You have to admire how much the company has succeeded in such a small amount of time. It has quietly zoomed (much like an electric car) passed its competitors, including both Ford Motor and General Motors. Tesla, Inc. is currently worth around $51 billion, despite having only 1 percent of the sales of the other two automotive giants.
Traditionally, cars can be priced at eye watering figures for many different reasons, whether it’s down to brand, quality, material or even exclusivity. Tesla is doing things differently and your money is being spent on systems, safety and hardware - whilst still looking pretty flashy. With the introduction of the ‘Model 3’ at a more affordable $35,000, is this the car that will truly disrupt the current market? Simplicity is key for great design at Tesla, Inc. The interfaces are simpler and they’ve done away with the key fob, instead opting for an app or keycard (in case your phone dies). The interior has a very minimalistic approach, with a long straight dashboard and a 15-inch touchscreen display in the centre. There is no speedometer, no mileage readouts, and just a few extra buttons. Instead, convenience and style go hand in hand, with voice activated controls, climate control via the app, and everything else accessed via the display. Tesla, Inc. would never dream of producing an ugly stereotype of an electric car and ‘Model 3’ is no exception - the glass roof is a thing of beauty. Most importantly though, it’s designed to have the highest ratings of safety in every single category. As Musk puts it, “Safety may not be sexy, but it is truly what matters most. If there was anything more we could do to keep you safe, we would do it in a heartbeat.” Model 3 as seen in the wild. Credit:&#160;billsmitherson Now for the really exciting part - the revolutionary stuff. A move towards sustainable transport has given us ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ and ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’. Owners of the ‘Model 3’ will be able to automate many of their daily routes with ‘Enhanced Autopilot’. The enhancements include ‘Autosteer+’, in which the new ‘Tesla Vision’ cameras and sensors will be able to navigate more complex roads. The ‘Smart Summon’ feature will have your car come and find you, even through difficult environments. Building on top of the ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ feature is the ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’ where you can literally just sit while the car does all the driving to get you to your destination - something that seemed so distant and futuristic has been made a reality! Your Tesla will figure out the route, navigating even the most complicated junctions, roundabouts and densely packed areas. It truly is the closest thing we will have to flying cars and imagine the extra sleep you can get in the morning! However, to be able to enjoy the extra sleep , it’s an additional cost of $5,000 for the autopilot and $3,000 for self-driving (full self-driving will be a future option, once legislation has been passed).
So alongside all the positives, there’s the blindingly obvious downside. Tesla, Inc.’s ‘Model 3’ base cost is $35,000 - no bells, no whistles - so once you add all the fun bits like autopilot, glass roof etc. you’re probably looking at nearer $50,000. What’s worse is that articles circulating online have hinted that the $7,500 USA government rebate incentive may no longer be available for reservation holders after 2017, as there’s a cap at 200,000 units sold. Tesla, Inc. responded that the ‘Model 3’ has been designed to be affordably priced but this means competitors could pose a serious threat if they roll out a cheaper electric car. For example, the new Nissan Leaf will be $5,000 cheaper at $29,990 and will also receive the same government rebate incentives, driving the price down to $22,250. Many critics are saying that even at $35,000 (which does sound good for PR), the electric car is still too expensive for the mainstream market. To get that slice of the future, you’d really have to shell out for it. With around 400,000 pre-orders of the ‘Model 3’ already, Musk really has his work set out for him and told his workers, “Welcome to production hell!”. But with the Big Auto squirming at Musk’s approach, or rather a new reality defined by Tesla, and the recent furor around “Dieselgate” it does make for some interesting rivalry. The arrival of Model 3 changes everything from the price to technology and performance whilst disrupting the stranglehold that gas engine motor companies have had for the past hundred years. Tesla, Inc. has many critics, but so did Henry Ford when he started producing motor vehicles!
The likes of BMW and Nissan are scrambling at the feet of customers on the ‘Model 3’ waiting list, trying to persuade them to buy their new electric cars but can they compete with the level of investment and innovation demonstrated by Tesla?. With key aspects in simplicity and design, safety and technology, I believe ‘Model 3’ is arguably the most important vehicle of the century, and if that isn’t disruptive to the vehicle market, what is?Fri, 08 Sep 2017 10:23:49 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/6016
PDMS and NEXTRA partnership News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/sep/pdms-and-nextra-partnership/
This affiliation will focus on delivering NEXTRA’s leading edge workforce management systems to ferry, and other travel operators including rostering, time and attendance management, and optimised people and resource scheduling. PDMS&#160;provides ferry reservation, ticketing and ITSO Smartcard solutions, working with customers including Calmac, the Isle of Man Steam Packet and Bahamas Ferries -&#160;whilst NEXTRA currently works with operators including P&amp;amp;O Ferries and the Craig Group‘s Northstar Shipping business. The partnership has already proved to be successful with a new contract recently awarded by CalMac Ferries for the provision of crew staff rostering management system. The contract was awarded through the UK Government’s G-Cloud 9 procurement framework. David Stickland, Commercial Director of PDMS’ Transport &amp;amp; Ticketing Division commented “We are delighted to be working more closely with NEXTRA and adding workforce systems to our growing range of solutions. Together we have a unique combination of skills and experience and most importantly, a great deal of insight into the needs of ferry and other transport operators when it comes to key line of business systems.” Michael Curran, CEO of NEXTRA said “NEXTRA is very pleased to embark upon this strategic partnership with PDMS Transport and Ticketing for the delivery of workforce management systems, including our rostering, time and attendance and optimised, demand driven scheduling solutions, to the shipping and ferry industries. Our extensive joint experience in these key sectors, coupled with our innovative drive, will ensure that we add both strategic, and operational, value to our customers. We are proud to be working with PDMS in delivering our solutions to CalMac Ferries.” PDMS Transport &amp;amp; Ticketing is currently working on a number of new projects including the implementation of ITSO Smartcards to ferry operators in Scotland. About PDMS PDMS is a software engineering company providing a range of IT services and solutions. With a 24 year track record, the company employs over 70 people with offices in Glasgow and the Isle of Man. PDMS’ Transport &amp;amp; Ticketing Division is focused on the development of ferry reservation and ticketing solutions, together with smart and mobile ticketing solutions for the wider transport sector. For more information please contact: Joanne Pontee 01624 664000 or joanne.pontee@pdms.com or Diane Stickland 0141 880 1000 or diane.stickland@pdms.comWed, 06 Sep 2017 14:48:36 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/6010
PDMS Scotland Office News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/aug/pdms-scotland-office/
With established offices in the Isle of Man and London, their Glasgow operation urgently required more space to cope with ongoing expansion and this new office ticked all the boxes. PDMS is committed to growing its operations in Scotland and vibrant Glasgow is an ideal base from which to serve both their local and overseas customers. PDMS Commercial Director David Stickland said: “We have grown our client base and are proud to work with local organisations such as Calmac Ferries and The University Of West Of Scotland. With the support of Scottish Enterprise we have also increased our export business - selling our software products and services globally. As a result, we have been able to expand our Scottish operation and create new jobs. We took our time to identify the right office accommodation, and Academy Park, a modern building with ample room to accommodate our current and future staff numbers, was the obvious choice.” Academy Park is located within close proximity to the City Centre, motorway, train station and offers easy access to the airport.Wed, 23 Aug 2017 14:03:32 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/6003
PDMS – there&#39;s more to us than meets the eye! Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/aug/pdms-theres-more-to-us-than-meets-the-eye/
When you&#39;ve been around for as long as we have, it&#39;s easy to assume that everyone in the Island&#39;s business community knows who we are and what we do. PDMS has been operating on the Isle of Man for nearly a quarter of a century (we celebrate our 25th anniversary next year), and I have lots of dodgy photos of our founding Directors from the early 1990s in my marketing archive to prove it! I&#39;m pretty sure that a lot of people locally have heard of PDMS, even though most of our business is now with clients off Island. We are active participants in different local organisations including the Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, Manx ICT Association (MICTA), IOM Maritime Group and Bridge to name just a few. Both the company and staff also help to raise funds for local charities including IOM Hospice and the MSPCA, and we support local sports teams including the PDMS Southern Nomads Rugby Club. Most people I talk to locally are aware that we do something techy to do with software and websites – I wouldn&#39;t be doing my job properly if they didn&#39;t! However, they are often genuinely surprised by the scale and diversity of our projects and the global reach of our clients. For example, did you know that over 130,000 police officers in the UK use a system we designed to check legal information, or that our software is helping to register ships in the picturesque, but very distant, Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean? What some people may not also know, is that we are now over 70 strong and our growing Isle of Man operation is also complemented by an expanding presence in Glasgow. Having just undergone a restructuring of our business to better reflect the needs of the different markets we serve, I thought now would be a good opportunity to provide an update on what we, PDMS, are up to. Back in 1993 when PDMS first started, when we had the Walkman instead of iPods and an encyclopaedia instead of Google, PDMS was very much focused on data and databases. As technology progressed, we began to specialise more in software development, particularly bespoke software developed to meet a customer&#39;s very specific requirements. And with the growth of the Internet, the systems we developed became web based – both systems for businesses and customer facing websites. Fast forward 25 years and we now have an evolving portfolio of cloud based software solutions, platforms and services. Earlier this year, we decided to reshape the organisation to create three new Divisions – Transport &amp;amp; Ticketing Solutions, Registries &amp;amp; Regulatory Solutions and Community and Collaboration Solutions. We&#39;ve followed the Ronseal, &quot;it does what it says on the tin&quot; approach to naming our divisions! In our Transport &amp;amp; Ticketing Solutions team, we&#39;ve grouped together over 25 corporate years&#39; experience of ferry reservation and ticketing systems. We&#39;ve designed, developed and supported the systems used by Calmac Ferries, providing life line services to the West Coast of Scotland and carrying over five million passengers a year, as well as for the Orkney Ferries, Shetland Islands Council, Bahamas Ferries and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. We are also working on a new smart ticketing solution which will extend our reach to other modes of transport such as rail, bus etc. With a deep understanding of the common business challenges faced by registries and regulators around the world, our Registries &amp;amp; Regulatory Solutions team are working with organisations including the Isle of Man Government, the Bahamas Maritime Authority, the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Island, the Maritime Cook Islands and the States of Guernsey. We are a technology partner to the IOM Ship Registry, one of the top five fastest growing flag states in the world and we also developed the software for the IOM Aircraft Registry – cited as the fastest growing offshore register in the world. Our Community and Collaboration (C&amp;amp;C) Division is working on several pioneering new projects with Local Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships in the UK. PDMS is behind employed.im – the Island&#39;s local jobs and skills portal which is not only being used to help run over 400 Year 10 work experience placements in secondary schools, but also to help local organisations manage their membership services. The same platform is also helping Fife Council to reduce their youth unemployment and is currently being rolled out to other areas of the UK including the South East. When it comes to innovating new approaches - PDMS likes to be at the forefront. Our C&amp;amp;C team is working with Redditch Council to develop a new platform that will help Councils identify, track and report on the root causes of people&#39;s problems and assist with trying to resolve these rather than just focusing on the presenting problems. Then there&#39;s a host of other products I haven&#39;t mentioned, such as our lost property solution currently helping reunite travellers with their lost items at Aberdeen Airport, and our document management product (DoxShare) used by law firms to securely store and share documents with clients and external partners. Phew - that just about covers the Divisions, but there are other important teams who provide a range of complementary and support services. We have a support team who are dedicated to supporting our longstanding clients – many of whom we have worked with for 10 years or longer. This includes names you will no doubt recognise such as the NHS, Centrica and Black &amp;amp; Decker. Our in-house design team are busy, not only developing great looking and user-friendly websites or interfaces for our clients, but also creating great marketing materials to help promote PDMS. Whilst our Infrastructure team look after the hosting and security of our client&#39;s systems, hardware, facilities and much more besides. As you can see there&#39;s a lot more to PDMS than initially meets the eye! The company is growing too and we are expanding our team with new apprenticeship roles. We are recruiting in both the Isle of Man and Scotland, and later in the year we are moving into bigger and better office accommodation in Glasgow. So, if you are looking for a local software partner or are interested in a career in technology, you need look no further than Global House in the Isle of Man Business Park.Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:45:50 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5994
Cyber Essentials Plus PR News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/aug/cyber-essentials-plus-pr/
Neal Kelly, Director of Operations &amp;amp; Simon Edwards, Quality and Standards Manager The Cyber Essentials certification program is a UK Government-backed scheme that guides businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats; allowing organisations to demonstrate to customers and partners that cyber security is taken seriously. Supported by industry as a whole, the certification aims to ensure that security controls are in place and working effectively ensuring risks are mitigated from online threats through the secure configuration of an organisation’s computing resources. During the process, the certifying body assessed PDMS against a number of criteria at three distinct stages: Self-Assessment Questionnaire Remote Threat Scan Onsite Vulnerability Assessment The Cyber Essentials Plus scheme is a thorough assessment of the organisation and builds upon the requirements of the basic certification; as a result providing greater security assurance. The additional phase of testing increases the validity of the Cyber Essentials certification considerably by providing evidence of compliance against the following areas: Prevention of malicious files entering the organisation from the Internet through either web traffic or email messages. The effectiveness of the anti-virus and malware protection mechanisms, should malicious content enter the organisation. The likelihood that the organisation will be compromised due to failings in the patching of the organisation’s workstations, in the event that the organisation’s protection mechanisms fail. Neal Kelly, Director of Operations, comments on PDMS’ certification; “Cyber Essentials is an important UK government-driven initiative and being certified to the Plus standard helps us to further reassure our clients and partners around the world that cyber security is of paramount importance to us. I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of everyone at PDMS, particularly our Infrastructure team, who has helped the company in achieving this certification.” Cyber Essentials Plus places an emphasis on technical controls and therefore complements PDMS’ ISO27001 certification, which primarily looks at governance, risk, and policy. Together these certifications demonstrate the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering secure online systems to both government and private sector clients. As an approved GCloud supplier, working with a number of central and local UK Government organisations, the Cyber Essentials Plus certification provides added reassurance in relation to PDMS’ IT security. Managing Director, Chris Gledhill gives an overview of how cyber security is becoming essential in modern business practices and the support this certification provides PDMS during this radio interview.Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:34:42 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5993
New Website for Isle of Man Ship Registry News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/aug/new-website-for-isle-of-man-ship-registry/
The Isle of Man Ship Registry&#160;website has been redesigned to give users an enhanced experience when browsing the site, better demonstrating the Ship Registry’s different service offerings. It is also designed to be used across all digital platforms to keep in line with the increasing use of tablets and smartphones for web browsing. Martyn Perkins MHK, Department Member with responsibility for the Isle of Man Ship Registry, commented: ‘The Isle of Man Ship Registry’s website was over 15 years old and was in need of an update to enable it to cater for modern methods of accessing the web. The Registry serves a global client base and its web presence needs to reflect its professional, detailed and high-quality approach to its role as a client focused registrar and regulator.’ Dick Welsh, Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry, commented: ‘We are delighted with the new look and feel of the Ship Registry website. It is fresh and modern and can be used on-the-go by busy clients with better navigation and a clearer proposition for new customers. The Ship Registry has been leading the way in incorporating new online services in line with the Government’s Digital Strategy and the new site offers better integration of these features and the opportunity for future enhancements.’ The new website is available at www.iomshipregistry.com/ You can also follow the Ship Registry on Twitter @iomshipregistry PDMS is a key technology partner to the Isle of Man Ship Registry who also use PDMS’ MARIS ship registry software to help run their business.Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:38:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5988
Banking on Millennials Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/jul/banking-on-millennials/
I recently had the opportunity to visit the START Summit which took place in Saint Gallen, Switzerland for two days in March - attracting over 2,000 students, visitors, corporates and investors from all over the world. It focused on today’s leading technologies which included blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, internet of things, argument/virtual reality and medtech. The START Summit had many interesting speakers, including Tony Fadell the founder and former CEO of Nest Labs, Shai Wininger who co-founded Lemonade and fiverr.com and Rafael Grossmann who was the world’s first surgeon to use Google Glasses. But one of the most interesting parts of the conference for me personally was the ‘fireside chat’ with N26 and Deutsche Bank. This discussion saw Valentin Stalf, Founder and CEO of N26 and Michael Koch, Head of Digital Factory &amp;amp; Online and Mobile Banking at Deutsche Bank articulating the changes and disruption in the mobile app banking industry. NUMBER26 (N26) is a mobile-only bank which claims you can open a bank account in just 8 minutes by completing a simple signup form and video identification check. Since N26 is a mobile-only bank you will not find any physical branches in your local high street, as everything is completed via the app. N26’s mission is to make banking easier by using a simpler user interface and by removing the unnecessary things that make traditional banking less intuitive. Why mobile-only banking? Now that smartphones are a common part of our daily lives, businesses and banks alike are tapping into this growing market by developing mobile apps. Most banks, such as Deutsche Bank, will already have a mobile app which is an enhancement to their existing service, rather than the app monitoring and controlling all banking functions itself like N26. Tasks such as the ability to customise the information you see, lock your card, change your pin number or order a replacement card can all be done easily and quickly from within the N26 app. Most of these tasks cannot be done with a traditional banking app, instead you must telephone or go into the bank itself and ask. Another perk of a mobile-only bank account is the savings and interest rates. You will most likely find that they offer more competitive interest rates and savings to customers because they do not have the significant business overhead of physical bank branches such as premises, infrastructure, staff and running costs. N26 says that it has tripled its user base over the past 12 months, with over 300,000 customers. As a fully licensed bank, it operates in 17 countries in Europe and has handled transactions exceeding 10 million pounds in the past year. The mobile-only banking user experience An important part of mobile-only banking is how the app looks and functions. N26 have invested a significant amount of time into developing a good user interface and experience for its customers. The app has many features that are only unique to the N26 app. These carefully considered features let users customise what their debit card can do. For example, you can set your own daily spending and withdrawal limits, turn ATM transactions on and off or enable real time notifications every time a transaction is made. The core consideration of user experience is the user interface (UI). A UI put simply is the way a user interacts with an application. A UI usually consists of a set of commands, buttons or menus through which a user carries out tasks in an application. If you have an application with a poorly designed UI you will find it will have little value when it comes to a user experience rating. N26 for example have adopted a minimalistic UI design which consists of whitespace, clean lines, simple colour scheme and minimal graphical elements. Having this clean uncluttered UI makes the app much easier to user and understand as the user will be able to focus on the elements that matter. The problems with mobile-only banking Although mobile-only banking has many interesting and appealing features it does have downsides which may affect how fast it grows. Firstly, a mobile-only service means people who don’t own a mobile, or a suitable device, are excluded. This is likely to impact older generations, many of whom perhaps aren’t as willing to embrace mobile technology as the digital savvy millennials. Bank customers are also limited to transferring funds electronically because there are no physical banks or deposit boxes. Lastly, when it comes to customer service you may experience a less helpful or personalised service as everything is run by machines so there is little or no human interaction when it comes to solving an issue with your account. What next for mobile-only banking? Having heard first-hand insights from Valentin and Michael, my opinion is that mobile-only banking will really take off in the coming years as technology is moving so fast. The younger generations are now growing up in an age where technology is fully integrated into their daily lives. So, the issues affecting the take up of mobile-only banking will most likely become obsolete. For example, the problem of delivering personalised customer service could soon be solved by using technology such as machine learning where computers can learn from users to provide a tailored, friendly experience. Now that we are happy to control our homes from our smartphones and will be soon travelling around in driverless cars, managing our finances on our phone may not seem such big a deal after all.Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:38:22 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5981
The changing role of the hole in the wall Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/jun/the-changing-role-of-the-hole-in-the-wall/
Most people will lose interest when the subject of the cash dispenser arises, as it is not the usual topic of conversation among friends, however once prompted, there will always be a memorable story to tell. An anecdote of the time when their card was swallowed prior to a night out, finding a wad of notes sitting in the dispenser having been left behind by the forgetful owner, or even a detailed account of the night when their friend was robbed by a chancer lurking by. We’ve all used it, we’ve all relied upon its services and for the foreseeable future, it will continue to be part of our lives. However, a study last year found that only one in five people take cash from a bank once a month, rather than daily or weekly, as we rely more on cards and contactless payments. But it is perhaps interesting to know, that the modern day ATM has been shaped by the average consumer in its appearance, how it operates and the multiple functions it offers. It is 50 years since the first Automatic Teller Machine was invented in 1967 by John Shepherd-Brown in London and, despite an initial technical glitch when it was rolled out in Zurich: tramlines had affected the mechanics of the machine, the new method of retrieving cash took off, producing tangible evidence that retail banking was changing. Since then, ATMs have indeed become more sophisticated and quite different from the early machines, performing transactions no one could have envisaged. However, half a century on, with technology constantly evolving and talk of a cashless society, has the life of the ATM expired? Maybe not completely. Manufacturers are looking at alternative functions of the traditional ‘hole in the wall’ system. In fact, ATM manufacturer, NCR, have claimed users will never look at it in the same way, with their introduction of a tablet inspired screen, which allows the user to type, swipe and pinch as they would with their own devices. These new screens have already been installed in the United States, and are due imminently in the UK and Australasia. Machines that allow consumers to access their accounts by using biometrics, such as scanning one’s palm print or irises, have been popular outside the US, particularly in Latin America. ATM manufacturers are reviewing new technologies – iris scans, thumb prints and there are even devices that can measure your individual heartbeat With new payment systems being launched, could we then be looking at the demise of the ATM as we know it? Well one thing we can be sure of, as a society, we rely on cash dispensers more than ever. They give us the freedom to travel the world with just a piece of plastic, giving us access to quick dispensing cash all over the world. Remember travellers cheques? It has now been made apparent that ATM manufacturers who are willing to go with change and embrace the changing culture, by introducing flexible and adaptive business models, will be rewarded with enormous future potential. Banks are being forced to rethink the way things have been done, by digitally minded consumers and are under pressure to reduce and eliminate fees and charges, face up to scams that affect public trust in the safety and security of ATMs, and consider the effect of rising government interest in promoting a cashless society. If used to their full potential, ATMs offer banks numerous opportunities to differentiate from competitors through this channel by turning ATMs into self-sufficient mini-branches. Modern technology aside, it appears popularity of these machines are still very evident in many countries, in fact there are currently over 3million cash dispensers all over the world, including a mountaintop dispenser in the Himalayas! Recent studies have shown rapid growth in the ATM, with over 200 dispensers being introduced daily. Brazil, Russia, India and China have shown growth in recent years, in particular India with the introduction of solar powered ATMs in rural locations. It has been reported that Portugal has the highest percentage of machines in Western Europe, which may be related to the fact that they offer other functions and services, including cinema and other ticket purchases, tax and bill payments and mobile top ups. Sweden, in contrast, has the lowest proportion of cash machines in Europe, which is believed to be related to Scandinavia becoming a cashless society. In the Gulf there is even an ATM which dispenses gold bullion bars! Located in the lobby of Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel the machine, which is coated with a thin layer of gold, offers customers 320 items to choose from, ranging from gold bars that can weigh up to 10 grams, to customised gold coins! Of course, security has always remained a fundamental issue for ATM providers, and despite the convenience of the machine to consumers, the very fact that within the walls of each machine, there may be thousands of pounds worth of cash. This is enough to attract the attention of even the most desperate criminals – ripping the machine off the wall, to the calculating criminals, who opt for more sophisticated methods, which may include installing hidden cameras fake pads and even fake card slots. The information they collect can be used in a variety of options, often and perhaps the easiest way to earn them money, is to use the details to impersonate the card owner, or simply empty the account. Previously it was common to sell the information, particularly corporate card owners, on to a third party, but this method has not been so lucrative in recent years. We are of course advised regularly to be vigilant when using ATMs, but are we? In the UK high street we could soon see cash points that customers can access with their mobile phones - no card required. This would help reduce fraud carried out using skimmer devices. So the question remains, what is the future of the ATM in a world of digital money? Well it seems fair to say, we’re not losing it anytime soon, and in years to come, who knows what functions the ATM will provide…watch this space.Tue, 20 Jun 2017 15:34:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5943
PDMS gets ready for European Business Aviation Convention &amp; Exhibition (EBACE2017) News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/may/pdms-gets-ready-for-european-business-aviation-convention-exhibition-ebace2017/
The&#160;European Business Aviation Convention &amp;amp; Exhibition (EBACE)&#160;is taking place from 22 to 24 May in Geneva. Thousands of people from across the world&#39;s business aviation community, including business leaders, government officials, manufacturers and flight department personnel, will meet to conduct business and make buying decisions for the year ahead. EBACE will showcase more than 500 exhibitors and 60 business aircraft on static display! Attendance at this conference follows on from Bruce and Cat&#39;s event trip to the Offshore Aircraft Registration Conference in Bermuda - which was hit by Hurricane Nicole - last year. In June Bruce and Cat will be attending the&#160;Isle of Man Aviation Conference&#160;as sponsors. If you would like to meet with us whilst at the conference, please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing sales@pdms.com.Wed, 17 May 2017 10:47:33 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5913
DoxShare sponsoring law firm Leadership Summit in Glasgow as sponsors News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/apr/doxshare-sponsoring-law-firm-leadership-summit-in-glasgow-as-sponsors/
PDMS is sponsoring CCPD&#39;s Law Firm Leadership Summit&#160;on the 25th April 2017, at the Radisson Blu in Glasgow. John Rae and Cameron Faulds will be attending to&#160;promote our DoxShare&#160;solution. DoxShare is a ‘data room’ designed for law firms and Corporate Service Providers (CSPs). It allows firms to&#160;securely store and share documents with clients and external partners during transactions such as a merger or acquisition. CCPD&#39;s Leadership Summit will bring together some of the Scottish profession&#39;s most thoughtful, innovative and successful leaders, complemented by exceptional specialist advisers. It will look in depth at the business issues which confront them, whether in high towers or on the high street, at a time of unprecedented turbulence.Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:04:33 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5902
Kamila contributes to PDMS on work experience placement News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/apr/kamila-contributes-to-pdms-on-work-experience-placement/
Kamila was a great addition to our team showing enthusiasm and willing each day for every task she tackled (including a last-minute binding session for some final proposal documents!). Work experience can be a valuable and meaningful experience for students at this important milestone in their education. We asked Kamila if she would like to write a short overview of her time with PDMS as we’re pleased to share it with you here: For everyone in my year at school, work experience was a very anticipated event. For each individual, the week before we went out on placement was different. Some people were curious others were scared. I was a very uncomfortable mixture of both which, as I’m sure you can imagine, wasn’t ideal! As expected, the morning before my first day of work experience was, to put it simply, terrifying. However, as soon as I walked into the PDMS office I was greeted with smiles and it was unbelievingly reassuring. Everyone was incredibly kind and it was a real pleasure to be able to work alongside them. I was given my own desk and that’s all it took to make me excited for the week ahead. The morning, despite slight technical problems, went smoothly and as the week progressed I grew in confidence and enthusiasm. The tasks were neither too hard or too easy and gave me a true taste of what working in marketing would be like. It was nearly impossible to get bored as with each day there was a new task to look forward to. One day I was writing an article, the next I was making spreadsheets. To say that I learned a lot would be an understatement; I learnt, I experienced and I became more aware than ever that marketing is a potential career choice for me. Without a doubt, my placement was everything it was supposed to be, if not more. It was eye opening and I learnt so much. I couldn’t have had a better work experience as PDMS was nothing short of incredible and I will miss coming here to work more than I ever thought I would. Kamila (far left) joined PDMS in dressing in red and baking cupcakes for Red Nose Day!Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:09:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5900
Weapon of mass distraction Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/apr/weapon-of-mass-distraction/
I recently read in the news that Nokia is bringing back to life its 3310 mobile phone and was intrigued as to the reasons why a throwback from the turn of the millennium is being rebooted in 2017. The 3310 was the iconic Nokia model which sold over 126 million units worldwide following its launch in 2000. Well-loved for its durability and long battery life, the phone boasted features including a calculator, a stop watch and the popular, and rather addictive, Snake game (remember this was 17 years ago!). The resurrection of this classic phone, almost two decades after it was first released, has generated a lot of interest both in the media and with the buying public. According to Carphone Warehouse, the only company to have opened pre-registrations for the handset, the demand has been significantly higher than they anticipated. In the age of the smartphone with their sleek designs, multitude of features, fast internet access and endless apps - why is there so much interest in a retro phone with a tiny, non-touch screen – a “brick” phone? There are a few obvious reasons, such as battery life – the new Nokia 3310 has a battery life of 22 hours of talk time and up to a month on stand-by which compares very favourably to the power hungry iPhone and Android devices. Then there’s the price, predicted to be around &#163;40 – a cheap phone that won’t break the bank to replace and is perfect for taking to festivals or the beach. So all in all the Nokia 3310 would make an ideal second, emergency phone but maybe there’s another more nostalgic reason…. The interest in this throwback phone may have more to do with what the phone can’t do than what it can. In fact it could be the perfect antidote to our present day smartphone dependence – a digital detox phone. It’s a well-documented fact that an increasing number of people are becoming addicted to their smartphones. According to a recent report from Deloitte, one in three adults check for messages at night, one in ten smartphone owners reach for their phone as soon as they wake up, a third of respondents admitted to using their handsets while with friends or watching television and, alarmingly, one fifth of 18-24 year olds are looking at their smartphones when crossing the road! Another study found that the average person swipes, taps and pinches their display about 2,617 times a day – that’s over a million times per year! Smartphone obsession seems to be most prevalent amongst teenagers, with a USA survey revealing that over 50% of teenagers felt they were addicted to their mobile devices. There’s a great deal of concern that we are creating zombie like kids who are constantly glued to their screens and missing out on vital social interaction. Interestingly, an LSE study found that the effect of banning mobile phones from school premises adds up to the equivalent of an extra week’s schooling over a pupil’s academic year. It also found that after schools banned mobile phones test scores of students aged 16 improved by 6.4%. And it’s not just limited to teenagers – over 50% of kids think their parents check their devices too often. We’ve all become so attached to our mobile phones that there is now a recognised condition for those who fear being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact. Nomophobia (or, no-mobile-phone-phobia) – described as the feelings of anxiety or distress that some people experience when not having their phone. The proliferation of Smartphones, with anytime anywhere access to social media, is also driving the “FOMO” (fear of missing out) phenomena. A social angst defined as “the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming feeling that you’re missing out – that your peers are doing, in the know about, or in possession of more or something better than you’’. Again, a condition more commonly experienced by younger people. By quoting these statistics you may think that I’m a mobile phone disparager but I’m anything but. I appreciate the huge and positive impact that mobile technology has had on our lives – the convenience of being able to contact anyone at any time and the ability to capture memories with photos and videos anywhere. I’m old enough to remember queuing in the rain waiting to use phone boxes and I often bemoan the lack of photos from my teenage years (although if you remember perms and rah-rah skirts this is probably no bad thing!). The smartphone revolution has evolved communication to the next level. Thanks to these clever devices, we can communicate with friends and millions of other people worldwide, no matter where we are, have immediate access to global news and information and access to a whole plethora of entertainment options all in our pocket. However, I believe that as a society we need to adjust to the smartphone revolution to ensure that we don’t put phone interaction ahead of human interaction. I recall sitting in a restaurant on a recent holiday in Crete where, at an adjacent table, there were four older children, all of whom were glued to their phones. I thought they were taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi whilst waiting for their food – the Wi-Fi at the resort hotel was notoriously ropey. However, once their food arrived they still continued to either swipe or watch their phone in between mouthfuls of moussaka. Most families go on holiday to spend quality time together but that’s difficult to do if the children are glued to their phones and not engaging in any conversation other than to pass the salt! Smartphones are inherently distracting - I often find myself picking up my phone to catch up on e-Bay bids or Trump’s latest faux-pas and the next thing I know 20 minutes have passed and I’m watching a video (albeit a very funny one!) of a BBC interview hijacked by two small children or a singing dog. Some research has also suggested that smartphones are also having a detrimental impact on our attention span. According to a Microsoft study the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015 – so apparently most of us now have an attention span shorter than Dory! As with most other things in life it’s moderation that’s the key and for those that feel they are being stalked by their shiny smartphone - the Nokia 3310 might just be the answer to help them unplug from the digital world. As for me, I’m going to put my phone away whilst watching TV so I’m not watching a large screen whilst simultaneously staring at a smaller one! Ironically, I’m also going to download an app (aptly named – Breakfree) to monitor my usage and tell me how much of an addict I really am!Mon, 03 Apr 2017 15:51:34 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5896
Isle of Man Ship Registry Rings the Changes News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/mar/isle-of-man-ship-registry-rings-the-changes/
The Isle of Man’s highly successful Ship Registry is evolving to meet the needs of the modern shipping world. On 1st April 2017 it will deliver improved services by moving to a new way of working, in partnership with its clients and their Classification Societies, to streamline processes and add extra value to the world class service provided. With over 400 internationally trading ships, it is paramount that the Registry provides global coverage for the regular surveys and inspections required by the international conventions. Traditionally the Isle of Man Ship Registry has retained the safety management, security and labour convention inspections and audits. In future, this will be served by the ship’s Classification Societies (Class), acting as recognised organisations for the Flag. With their network of global offices, they are better placed to deliver these services within the allocated time windows. The move to full Class delegation will be met with a new regime of General Inspections, carried out by the Ship Registry’s own team of surveyors, to satisfy its Flag State Obligations and to ensure the quality of ships on the register are operating to the \very highest standards expected by the Isle of Man. Dick Welsh, Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry, commented: ‘Next month we are finally moving to full delegation, a system already favoured by many of our clients. The delegation of ISM/ISPS and ILO MLC audits and inspections amounts to the final three pieces in the jigsaw for the Island’s Ship Registry. We have consulted widely on this change and received positive feedback from both clients and Class. We can now utilise our own surveyors to better effect to inspect the vessels and monitor the work Class are carrying out on our behalf. We will be able to arrange these inspection visits at a time to suit the client and provide comprehensive reports which will add real value.This major step forward relies on MAVIS developments in respect of inspection recording and reporting.’ Mark Robertshaw, Chair of the Isle of Man Shipping Association, commented: ‘The Ship Registry has consulted extensively with the Island’s shipping industry and we believe the new regime will streamline the process for managing new ships and add further appeal to the Island’s world-class Ship Register.’ The Isle of Man Ship Registry is already a very successful Flag, posting tonnage growth of over 9% in 2016, reaching Number 12 in the World Table of Flag States by tonnage, the highest position achieved to date.Growth from Asia has been very strong and the register now comprises over 60% tonnage from this region. The move to full Class delegation will make the register even more attractive, as it aligns its offering to some of the world’s larger flags, with the extra benefit of retaining its own inspection regime using its own surveyors to add real value as a Flag State. A new, simplified fee scheme will also be introduced to support the changes and provide a single annual fee to cover annual registry and inspection fees. This means the Flag will continue to provide excellent value for money, particularly in comparison with the larger open registers. It will also allow greater certainty and consistency in financial planning for owners and operators. Again, this has been very well received by clients, Welsh added: ‘We have been working on these changes for some time. We are now keen to get it up and running. This will really enhance our offering and make us more attractive, as well as providing real value for our clients.’Thu, 30 Mar 2017 10:09:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5893
Troublesome paper certificates and why the maritime industry must embrace e-certificates News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/mar/troublesome-paper-certificates-and-why-the-maritime-industry-must-embrace-e-certificates/
Despite the obvious benefits of electronic certification,&#160;in the maritime sector true digitisation is not being embraced as quickly as in other industries. This is partly due to difficulties in understanding the technology and this paper sets out to explain the current technical position whilst also identifying other significant challenges which are hindering the adoption of electronic certification. Click here to download the full white paper.Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:27:08 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5890
A shopaholics dream, or virtual nightmare? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2017/mar/a-shopaholics-dream-or-virtual-nightmare/
As the post-Christmas, Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping madness settles, it occurred to me just how much shopping habits have changed since the pre-internet days of putting on a warm coat, a decent pair of shoes and braving the winter weather to trawl round high-street shops looking for those festive gifts for loved ones. One thing I love about real-world shopping is that those efforts can be rewarded with a much-needed hot chocolate and piece of cake to recharge the batteries! However, it’s become instinctive to turn to Amazon or Google the moment we need anything, click and purchase and then wait patiently for when it arrives. I’m a fan of both online shopping and real shops - for different reasons - so it’s no coincidence that this year was my most organised year yet, with homemade gifts prepared well in advance, some items bought locally and the rest of my gift-list ordered online and on its way to greet me at my front door. On the internet we can read about the latest products, check peer reviews and - through links to sites such as Amazon – order the item all in the space of ten minutes. With the convenience of being able to shop around at our fingertips, we can easily find the best bargains from the comfort of your own home (and why wouldn’t you?). But are we in danger of losing some of the magic of shopping on the high street and being able to interact with tangible products - and people - as part of the purchasing process? As our preference for online shopping increases, might we one day no-longer have buzzing high-street stores to visit in person, instead will we be stepping into a Virtual Reality (VR) station at home and be instantly transported into a world of virtual retail outlets? Where are we now? The impact that the internet has had on the retail industry reached a tipping point in 2015 when online shopping sales exceeded those of brick-and-mortar stores in the UK for the first time. Many of the most successful online retailers began with no physical high-street presence, with online giant Amazon paving the way for the likes of ASOS, Sports Direct and many more. In terms of economics and the exchange of goods and services, purely online businesses have significant advantages over their physical competitors. Removing physical retail outlets reduces overheads such as rent, building maintenance, labour and transportation costs. This allows online stores to offer goods far cheaper whilst also providing a much greater range. Online shopping is changing the way communities and shoppers use the high-street, with big stores such as John Lewis and Next reporting record low sales figures in-store at the start of 2016. However in 2017, defying the high street gloom and doom, Marks &amp;amp; Spencer is reporting its first increase in clothing sales at Christmas for six years. Apps and Internet of Things Amazon is a company which will crop up in any conversation about the digital transformation of shopping and for good reason. Their effective business strategy soon put them at the top as a go-to retailer for just about anything you might need. Just as we’ve now coined the phrase ‘Google it’ when we need information, if you want to buy something without heading to the high-street most of us go to Amazon. What makes Amazon so popular is their commitment to technology and innovation. In 2015 Amazon announced their Dash Button. One click of a conveniently-placed button and you can re-order in seconds a number of big name household products. Nearly two years on, we are yet to see a significant take-on of this product’s service, but Amazon are persevering by offering 250 of these buttons to date from their original 50 at launch. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of talk about Amazon’s desire to introduce a delivery system using drones, improving delivery to remote locations and the speedy arrival of your order (hopefully still in one piece!). Their most ‘out there’ concept yet is the Amazon Go store, a cashier-free grocery store making its debut in Seattle. Amazon Go allows customers to walk in and out of the building without queuing to pay, by using sensors and an App to detect when items are removed from shelves. Your Amazon account is charged; all of your shopping done - without having to talk to a single soul: it’s literally grab and go! Through smartphones, convenience is at our fingertips in other ways. We no longer have to carry our purses and wallets around with us as mobile payment apps like Zapper and Square allow us to pay for our meals, and collect points for our latest coffee purchase through our phones. Even brick-and-mortar businesses are adapting how they interact with customers with a rise in iPads and other tablets being used in place on standard checkouts. These devices open up businesses to digital payment processing, customer self-service and improving experiences within the retail environment as stores can give more information about products, online availability and demos to enhance the sales process. Consumers may be more empowered and informed these days, but so are retailers. By collecting data from our instore and online transactions, marketing software can help retailers record our habits and preferences and then suggest personal, relevant buying suggestions combined with offers and discounts that may be harder to resist as they are so personalised. No longer will we need to ‘shop around’ experiencing the excitement (or sore feet) of running around the high street – retailers will be able to tell us what we need, order it at the click of a button and have it delivered straight to our door. An example of location-based services in retail is iBeacon, a device which allows stores to target shoppers who are within a certain proximity via their mobiles, and use previous transaction information (gathered online and in store) to send special offers and promotions tailored to their personalised interests. And ladies - Google and H&amp;amp;M have just announced that later in 2017 they will make you a dress based on your Smartphone data through an app called The Data Dress. This app will collect information on you such as your location, physical activity and the weather and collate this through an algorithm which generates a unique and personalised garment. This example alone shows how closely retailers can now react to and interact with shoppers – even those who don’t physically step through their doorways. Where is technology taking us and what future do we see for ourselves? The internet and smartphones certainly have changed how and where we shop, but the truth is we’re not quite ready to say goodbye to physical shops just yet. The reason Amazon began opening physical stores in 2015 was with an aim to complement online shopping, reduce shipping costs and widen their consumer market. Meanwhile, online sofa and furniture company Made.com opened showrooms around the UK as a way to connect customers with their products, allowing consumers to feel textures and test for comfort. Hotel Chocolat, which started life as one of the first online-only retailers in 1997, soon saw the importance of investing in physical stores back in 2001 to heighten the shopping experience, allowing consumers to taste their products before purchase and overall enhancing their status as a luxury brand – something which couldn’t be achieved to the same extent online. In comparison to online shopping, visiting a physical store takes consumers to another level in certain aspects of the shopping experience which online just can’t complete with (at least for now). It is recognised that we wear different lenses depending on where we shop – online we seek out familiar, trusted items and requires low effort. In store, however, as we’ve invested more time and effort to get there, we demand a better experience in terms of surrounding, displays and customer service. Personally, I’m not ready to say goodbye to the high street shopping experience just yet – but, I wouldn’t complain if a new wardrobe of clothes manages to find its wat to my front door!Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:58:13 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5883
Call for organisations to participate at IOM Maritime Group&#39;s Tower Bridge reception News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/jan/call-for-organisations-to-participate-at-iom-maritime-groups-tower-bridge-reception/
The&#160;Isle of Man Maritime Group&#160;is an entrepreneurial group of Isle of Man based organisations in the maritime sector who work closely together to promote the Isle of Man as a leading international maritime centre of excellence. London International Shipping Week (LISW) (www.londoninternationalshippingweek.com) has quickly become a must attend bi-annual event in the maritime calendar. It attracts business leaders from around the globe and all sectors of international shipping from regulators, to charterers, ship owners, ship managers, bunker suppliers, lawyers, ship brokers, bankers, insurers, insurance brokers, commodity traders and brokers, ship suppliers, port operators, and to shipping service providers. The Group will next be attending LISW 2017 for another &#39;dare to be different&#39; event, this time at Tower Bridge. This is one of London&#39;s most iconic and internationally recognisable landmarks with stunning views over the River Thames. It will be an immense attraction to business leaders who come far and wide to attend in the week-long festival - in fact guests are already registering to attend! Our event during LISW 2015, set in the historic Trinity House, centred on a &quot;Nautical by Nature&quot; theme. Through entertainment with live Manx Music and creative Manx Actors performing sketches about Manx maritime history, we showcased the Isle of Man&#39;s deep maritime culture and why it continues to be a leading centre of maritime excellence. This year&#39;s theme, &#39;Raising the bar at Tower Bridge&#39; will build on this momentum. With the venue, canap&#233;s and fine wines confirmed, the Group is continuing to finalise the details of the entertainment, so there&#39;s plenty of opportunity for new members to help shape the event! More than a drinks reception, our events provide an excellent networking opportunity and are remembered and talked about for years to come. Expected to attract between 150-180 luminaries from the international maritime community, as well as London itself, the event takes place from 19:00-22:00, Wednesday 13th&#160;September 2017. Each participating organisation will be able to invite a proportion of the total guests, as well as network with prominent figures invited by other organisations. The Isle of Man Maritime Group is also a Bronze Sponsor of LISW. There are a number of local businesses participating, including the Isle of Man Ship Registry, KPMG, InterManager, MHG Insurance, Bernhard Schulte Ship Management and PDMS Maritime. Through pooling resources and sharing responsibility for different tasks, the Group is able to deliver spectacular events at an exceptionally reasonable cost. Get involved! If you would like to find out more or express an interest in participating as a hosting organisation, you can do so by calling Bruce or Cameron on 01624 664000. Alternatively, email&#160;enquiries@iom-maritime.com&#160;or visit the website here.Fri, 27 Jan 2017 14:53:39 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5870
New Board Appointment for PDMS News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/jan/new-board-appointment-for-pdms/
Software development company PDMS is delighted to announce the appointment of Kerry Kelly to the PDMS Board as Finance Director. With a degree in Mathematics with Financial Management and Accounting from the University of Sheffield, Kerry originally joined PDMS as Accounts Manager in 2000. Combining both financial acumen with commercial insight, Kerry has played a pivotal role in the expansion of the company’s operations over the past seventeen years. Kerry has responsibility for all financial aspects of the PDMS Group, from co-ordinating financial control and reporting through to helping to support the growth of the business. Working closely with the project teams, Kerry also helps to monitor the company’s performance through results analysis and forecasting. In addition to her role as Finance Director, Kerry also heads up the PDMS administration team. Chris Gledhill, Managing Director of PDMS commented “Kerry’s promotion to Financial Director recognises her contribution to PDMS and all her hard work over the past 17 years. More importantly it reflects her deep understanding of the financial and operational workings of the business and an unswerving commitment to both the organisation and the people who make it work”. Kerry commented, “I’ve worked for PDMS for many years, and it has always been highly rewarding. We work with an immensely dedicated and committed team, from junior level right through to senior management. I’m excited about the strategic direction of the company and am very much looking forward to contributing at Board level”.Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:23:50 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5864
PDMS client Isle of Man Aircraft Registry declared Best Global Aviation Registry News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2017/jan/pdms-client-isle-of-man-aircraft-registry-declared-best-global-aviation-registry/
The Isle of Man Aircraft Registry has been named the &#39;Best Global Aviation Registry&#39; in the World Commerce Review 2017 awards. The World Commerce Review award panel considered product innovation, on-going customer support, and best practice criteria.&#160;This momentous achievement follows on from a hugely successful 2016 for the registry, in which it registered its 900th&#160;aircraft and its 10,000th initial Crew Licence validation. PDMS, which also provides registry systems to the Isle of Man&#39;s ship and company registries, has worked with the aircraft registry since 2013. PDMS&#39; aircraft registry system, AERIS, supports the aircraft registry&#39;s back office processes, online services and survey process, and has been an important aspect of driving the business forward. Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for the Department of Economic Development, commented: ‘This award is yet another accolade for the Island’s aircraft registry which is renowned around the world for its high regulatory standards coupled with a customer-friendly approach. This latest recognition is testament to the hard work of the team and the Isle of Man’s outstanding proposition. The Island’s superb registry services support a significant cross-section of industry and form a key part of our strategy to diversify the Island’s economy.’ Simon Williams, Director of Civil Aviation added: ‘I am delighted to accept this award from World Commerce Review. 2016 was another big year for the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry and it is excellent to see our hard work being recognised internationally. In the last 12 months we have continued to focus on incremental improvements to our customer service offering. We have successfully introduced key IT support upgrades and launched online services in line with Government’s Digital Strategy, all of which have significantly improved efficiency. We have also secured a long term arrangement for the provision of aviation support services, particularly airworthiness surveys, which further improves the support provided to our international clients. ‘As the Registry approaches its tenth anniversary we have now registered the 925th&#160;aircraft since commencing operations and are maintaining our position as the sixth largest private/corporate aircraft registry in the world. The fact that we are still registering aircraft at a healthy rate notwithstanding the tough international trading conditions is a strong endorsement of the Isle of Man business model.’ The full case study on PDMS&#39; work with the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry can be found here.Thu, 12 Jan 2017 17:03:15 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5858
Waiting on the digital platform Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/dec/waiting-on-the-digital-platform/
If you’re booking a taxi on a smartphone, you expect the process to be slick and user friendly. Similarly, if you’re ordering an item of clothing online, you expect the process to be quick and seamless. However, if you’re thinking about booking a doctor’s appointment, it probably won’t occur to you that it is even possible to do so through an app. Similarly, if you want to review your council tax payments online, you are likely to pour yourself a cup of tea in preparation for a battle with a clunky website. Traditionally, the difference between positive and negative online experiences has been the difference between public and private sector digital services. For years now, the public sector has been maligned for its glacial like speed of digital transformation. Whilst the private sector produced the likes of LinkedIn, Uber, Netflix and Amazon, the public sector produced more and more reports! However, there is light at the end of the tunnel and we at PDMS like to think that we’re heavily involved in making sure that light gets bigger and brighter. The light I refer to is the spread of digital platforms across the public sector. Note: I use the word “spread” because digital platforms have been around for a while but only now are we really seeing an uptake across the public sector. Put simply, digital platforms are digital locations where multiple services can be delivered and consumed through a set of common design principles, and a core infrastructure of shared digital systems, technology and processes on which it’s easy to build brilliant, user-centric government services. These platforms are being implemented to deliver integrated services designed around the individual rather than the organisation. One of the most visited public sector digital platforms around the world is Gov.uk. It is a UK Government eco-system where lots of national public services like HMRC, Vehicle registrations, marriage certificates, childcare benefits and employment services can all be accessed. From this one platform, the Government Digital Service team have been able to create common payment, verification and notification components. This allows different public services to use a standard way of operating. This service has received widespread commendation from around the world and is recognised as a serious step in the right direction for digital public services. In the Isle of Man, the Government has also made significant progress in recent years with a common shared services and online payments platform to deliver a range of services from work permits right through to cattle passports. This might not sound as exciting as innovations like artificial intelligence, driverless cars and biometrics, but the reality is that the adoption of a platform approach to digital public services will dramatically improve people’s lives and make a real improvement to national productivity. Drones might get a package to you in less time than a lorry but digital platforms could be the difference between a citizen completing the right forms to receive accommodation or sleeping on the street. Similarly, these platforms could remove huge amounts of strain on public sector budgets by causing large-scale reduction in IT spend. Gov.uk is a very straightforward example of a digital platform because there are only two stakeholders involved: government and citizens. However, there are other types of platforms being used by the public sector to facilitate vastly improved public services. A good example of one of these platforms is something we have been creating over a number of years in partnerships with the public sector. The platform, PDMS Employed, is a platform approach to employability and skills services within a geographical region.This is a much more ambitious project than the Gov.uk platform where there are only two stakeholders involved in the Gov.uk platform (Government and citizens). There are multitudes of stakeholders involved in employability and skills services. These stakeholders include everyone from primary schools to employment related charities and citizens right through to employers. By taking a platform approach we have been able to simplify what is a very complex environment. For example, the traditional approach would see every provider of an employability and skills service build, populate and maintain their own digital services. These services would be targeted at employers and citizens, creating an extremely frustrating and difficult experience. By taking a platform approach we are introducing common components across providers of services, which result in the target audience receiving an improved service and providers having access to an improved way of working. We originally piloted this innovative approach in the Isle of Man through www.employed.im and we are now working on implementations further afield with public sector organisations in Scotland and the UK. When you consider the impact that public services have on people’s lives, you begin to understand the potential digital platforms have to make a huge difference. Could there be a day when digital public services are made as easy as making a purchase through Amazon? To conclude, budget cuts and political uncertainty mean public services are under enormous pressure. However, with a platform approach to the delivery of online services local and national governments can deliver improved services while making savings at the same time. It really is as easy as that. Next time you engage with an online public service, I hope it’s on a platform!Tue, 20 Dec 2016 15:38:30 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5855
How secure is your company data? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/dec/how-secure-is-your-company-data/
Despite many organisations, particularly law firms and corporate service providers, viewing compliance, data security, auditability and information control as crucial&#160;regulatory aspects&#160;of their business, many are simply not aware of the security implications of many common cloud solutions. To address these issues, local software development company, PDMS has launched their DoxShare Data Room (www.doxshare.com) solution for law firms and Corporate Service Providers on the Isle of Man. Designed for business users storing and sharing sensitive commercial information, DoxShare can&#160;mitigate&#160;against these issues, delivering exceptionally high levels of security and privacy for your data over and above what many of the mass market document sharing solutions can deliver. DoxShare Data Room is already in use by a number of prominent businesses within the Isle of Man in sectors including corporate services, banking, shipping and maritime, as well as in the legal sector in Scotland. Sharing documents via email Throughout the past few years we’ve spoken to a whole host of companies, especially lawyers, accountants and financial service providers who state that compliance is key for their business. However, what we’ve discovered is that many of these same companies are using email as a means of transferring contracts and other sensitive documents to clients, which could be intercepted and shared by pretty much anyone. The threat of public links The under exposed issue of users of mass market solutions sharing files through share links has also highlighted further vulnerabilities to these systems. Using public ‘share links’, users can disclose access to data to someone that doesn’t even have an account with that provider, meaning key business documents could easily be leaked to, and intercepted, by third parties without your knowledge or any traceability of who has seen what, when and where. Where is your data stored? Another key issue with some cloud providers is that they store your data and key company information on US servers, which could fall prey to the USA Patriot Act. This Act allows US law enforcement and national security agencies completely unrestricted access to any of your data, anywhere, anytime – regardless of whether your company’s location is outside of the US. So if you are a UK company with your data stored on US servers, you can be requested for any and all of your data. This is why we provide a Data Location Guarantee. DoxShare Data Room only uses our own servers within partner data centres that are located in the Isle of Man, so we can always guarantee exactly where your data is. Ownership and privacy You would have thought that any data you put into your cloud solution is yours, right? Wrong. It only takes a quick look at Google’s terms of service as an example to realise what’s really going on with some providers: “When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights that you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This licence continues even if you stop using our Services” (Google, April 2014). In addition to the ownership issue, such provider’s clauses also reserve the right to modify their terms and conditions at any time, and inform you simply by posting it on their blog, which could leave your organisation having to completely change cloud storage provisions if new terms dictated are not accepted by your organisation. Service Level Agreements Can you be sure that in the event of a power outage, network surge, cyber-attack or other disasters, your data will be protected and available 24/7 from your service provider? The absence of a strong, personalised service level agreement with large cloud storage solution providers could easily cause your business really big contingency problems. Accountability The absence of key requirements like access control and auditability poses a real threat of internal security breaches and malicious incidents. DoxShare incorporates full access control – so business can choose what documents to share with who, controlling who can see, change, edit or manage documents. Businesses can even check who has downloaded individual documents, significantly facilitating compliance. With full revision history attributable to individual users, the accountability of your businesses’ sensitive information is always guaranteed. When looking for your next cloud storage or data room provider, why not have a chat with us about how we could improve the data security and compliance of your organisation? Get in touch via our website at www.doxshare.com or via doxshare@pdms.com!Mon, 12 Dec 2016 14:05:36 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5844
Selfies at the Checkout Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/oct/selfies-at-the-checkout/
This new technology, called MasterCard Identity Check, is great news for forgetful consumers, who struggle to remember pin numbers at the best of times, and opt for the same password for all their accounts. In fact, studies have shown consumers, on average, enter their password eight times a day on 10 different accounts. This is particularly alarming as one in five people use the same password for all their accounts, with over half of consumers only slightly modifying their passwords for each account. First of all consumers wishing to use the face recognition ‘selfie’ method, must download the Identity Check Mobile App. They can then purchase goods online, and when ready to pay, proceed to the payment screen, where they will have to enter their credit card details, prompting a message to be sent to their phone requesting verification of the transaction. They are then asked to approve the transaction, at which point their face will appear on the screen asking them to blink. The selfie is taken and the transaction processed. Simple as that…or is it? Well the new system was rolled out in the Netherlands, US and Canada earlier this year and, following its massive success, is now being introduced across 12 countries in Europe – in fact studies have shown 92% of consumers prefer this method to a password! Mastercard have claimed “selfies to kill off passwords within five years”. Ajay Bhalla, President of Enterprise Risk and Security at&#160;Mastercard, said “We are relentlessly focused on making the online payment experience near frictionless, without making any compromises on safety and security,&quot; he added. &quot;This is a significant milestone in the evolution of payments.&#160;We are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe&#160;and soon&#160;the world.&quot; Which is good news for all concerned, as credit card fraud has cost banks millions of pounds every year, in fact the figure was estimated to be &#163;755m last year, as reported by the Financial Fraud Action UK. The problem is that once fraudsters have possession of our card details, either from phishing or simply taking the numbers from the card, they can go on a spending spree for as long as it takes us to realise what’s going on!&#160;New technology is long overdue, and banks can’t afford to let scammers to get away with this much longer. French digital security company, Oberthur Technologies, have recently designed credit card technology called MotionCode that randomly generates a three digit security code on the back of a card that changes every hour, ensuring any previous codes to be useless! It is powered by a tiny lithium battery that lasts three years. What this means is that scammers stealing your card details, have a finite amount of time to use them, before they’re just a bunch of useless numbers. The only obvious down side to using this type of card is for customers, who memorise all their card details, will not have that option, as the three digits continually change. It could also be expensive to implement as retailers will be required to initially install the technology, and then there are additional support costs to ensure cards work simultaneously with the operator. Is it all worth it? Well yes, if last year’s statistics are anything to go by! In 2015, it was reported that 20,255 customers in the UK were affected by credit card fraud, prompting banks to do something radical to stop it, or at the very least, reduce these figures, which are only going to increase. Pilot schemes in France have inspired two of their largest banks, Soci&#233;t&#233; G&#233;n&#233;rale and Groupe PBCE, to trial the cards with their customers. And following on from that, Mexico and Poland are piloting the card next, with the Oberthur Techologies UK &amp;amp; Ireland operation hoping to follow their lead. In the meantime, consumers must take extra precautions until technology eliminates the risk of credit card fraud. We are advised to choose passwords unique to individual cards and change them regularly – and the obvious one: don’t reveal too much about yourself online! Many of us willingly offer personal details when prompted, too often on websites we are unfamiliar with, which asks the question: what are they doing with that information? Will it work? We know that consumers hate passwords, most of which are not secure, so it seems selfies really could have another function, other than to satisfy the narcissistic amongst us… Credit cards with flashing numbers on the reverse – really? Well, as with all new technology, only time will tell, and fundamentally we all want the same thing…to keep our hard earned money safe, preferably away from the fraudsters!Thu, 27 Oct 2016 10:42:11 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5815
New frontier in ICT recruitment News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/oct/new-frontier-in-ict-recruitment/
The Manx ICT Association (MICTA) utilised employed.im to lead their recruitment for the new MICTA Apprenticeship Scheme, established to provide opportunities within the ICT sector and resolve the Island’s ICT skills gap. employed.im, a digital employability platform development by PDMS, joins up initiatives, opportunities and pathways in local areas. MICTA was one of the Isle of Man’s first organisations to use the new ‘Apply Online’ feature in employed.im to attract and recruit applicants to undertake training with local leading ICT companies. What is the MICTA Apprenticeship Scheme? In partnership with the Department of Economic Development (DED), the apprenticeship scheme was launched to provide paid, industry-based learning combined with day-release training at the Island’s newly branded University College Isle of Man (UCM). This year, there were 17 companies involved - all prepared to take a two-year apprentice under their wing. PDMS is one of the participating companies, based at Isle of Man Business Park, where 17-year-old Robert Blenkinsop has joined. Neal Kelly, Infrastructure and facilities manager at PDMS, said: ‘As a technology company we are always trying to recruit talented people, but we have struggled to find candidates with the right experience. ‘This scheme came along at the right time, so my team decided to change tack a little and develop people into IT professionals, rather than just hire a readymade employee. The apprenticeship scheme is absolutely perfect for that.’ Finding the right candidates The PDMS Employed system allowed administrators of the scheme to manage their apprenticeship recruitment campaign directly. MICTA used employed.im’s ‘Apply Online’ feature to help secure the Island’s future technology leaders on the new Apprenticeship Scheme. Using the ‘Apply Online’ feature, members of the public were able to easily find the opportunity, complete an online form - tailored to MICTA’s requirements - and submit supporting documents all in one simple process. The administrators at MICTA were then able to go in to their applications portal and manage applicants within the system to shortlist their successful candidates. By creating one shared applicant portal where submission details and documents are stored for each prospective candidate, it is possible for multiple users within various organisations to view all applicants for the scheme in one place and review the progress of applications, via their own logins. The Applications tool allows the administrator to see submitted online application details, supporting attachments and contact information for each applicant, and to download their submitted forms if required. Statics can be displayed for each advertised opportunity allowing administrators a quick view of their campaigns’ current status. Prepared for the future The value of apprenticeships used to be underestimated, however today they are becoming increasingly important in helping to solve skills gaps – seen as a sensible alternative to costly higher education fees in sectors where experienced candidates are limited. With more firms already showing an interest in participating after the first year of the programme, employed.im is ready to facilitate and manage any future apprenticeship recruitment drives undertaken by MICTA. With the programme administration under control in one central system, they can focus their time and energies on the important task of finding the right candidates to grow the Island’s future in ICT.Thu, 13 Oct 2016 17:34:49 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5808
PDMS takes on ICT apprentice on new MICTA scheme News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/oct/pdms-takes-on-ict-apprentice-on-new-micta-scheme/
We are delighted to welcome Robert to PDMS and both Robert and our Infrastructure and Facilities Manager, Neal Kelly, featured in a recent article about the MICTA scheme: Manx businesses are buying into a new apprenticeship scheme for the ICT sector. The Manx ICT Association (ICT standing for Information &amp;amp; Communication Technology) is acting as the facilitator for Manx firms to take on apprentices. A number of its member businesses have signed up to employ apprentices, paying them a salary while their day-release training at newly branded University College, Isle of Man (UCM) is being funded by the Department of Economic Development. Apprentices have started to take up positions at a wide number of companies and MICTA chief executive Kurt Roosen said businesses had already signalled their intent to build on inter-company co-operation built up through the formation of the scheme to share training expertise and support where appropriate. ‘Through our work at MICTA, we became aware there was a demand from both employers and potential employees for apprenticeship programmes, to provide practical and vocational training that will, ultimately, prove beneficial for the entire Isle of Man,’ said Mr Roosen. ‘At the end of their apprenticeships, these employees will have the equivalent of a Higher National Diploma and will have gained two years’ work experience.’ This year there are 17 companies involved in the scheme. The apprenticeship lasts for two years and apprentices will be employed throughout. Upon completion they will receive a nationally recognised Level 3 Vocational Qualification and a range of vendor qualificators fitted to the needs of the employer. One of the participating companies is enterprise software development house PDMS, based at Isle of Man Business Park, where 17-year-old Robert Blenkinsop has joined. Neal Kelly, infrastructure and facilities manager at PDMS, said: ‘As a technology company we are always trying to recruit talented people, but we have struggled to find candidates with the right experience. ‘This scheme came along at the right time, so my team decided to change tack a little and develop people into IT professionals, rather than just hire a readymade employee. The apprentice scheme is absolutely perfect for that.’ Along with other companies, PDMS attended a ‘speed-dating’ session when representatives met candidates who they considered would be the right fit. Following that, three candidates were spoken to in depth and Robert was subsequently selected for a two-year apprenticeship. ‘I think the scheme is great,’ said Mr Kelly. ‘It works three-fold’. ‘It gives somebody a chance to go into a profession that seems to always ask for experience. It gives us, as a company, a fresh new resource into what was a limited pool in the Island. It generates that additional IT resource in the Island.’ It also means that, at just 17, Robert has found himself working in a company that provides services on a global scale, with police forces in the UK and the Bahamas Maritime Authority among its clients. Mr Roosen said he was excited about the future for the scheme. ‘This is only the beginning,’ he said. ‘We are already receiving indications from more firms that they could be interested in participating after the first year of this programme. ‘The Isle of Man has been slightly off the pace on the value of apprenticeships, which are once more coming to prominence in the UK as a sensible alternative to costly higher education fees in areas where there is no substitute for on-the-job experience. ‘The feedback we have had so far is very positive and the Island will soon catch up as it continues to develop the potential of the ICT sector. The benefits of this apprentice scheme will be felt across the economy as we produce a home-grown workforce that keeps up with the demands of the digital world.’ Participating companies in the scheme are all members of the association. Mr Roosen added: ‘There is a very good collective support between the members of MICTA. We are delighted we have been able to facilitate a partnership between the private sector and the government and hope this will signal a continued relationship that will get stronger.’Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:07:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5802
Speaking of search… Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/sep/speaking-of-search/
For most of us, search engines such as Google, Bing (and even the lesser known Duck Duck Go – go on, Google it!) have become the de facto way to navigate the trials and tribulations of modern life. From choosing what to wear to learning how to bake, to finding a job, these powerful and constantly evolving systems have been the key to efficient internet browsing for over 25 years. But with around 650 million websites live on the internet, how do you get your voice heard above everyone else? To get a better understanding, let’s travel back in time briefly… The early development of ‘search’ was pioneering - but by today’s standards of sophistication - relatively clunky. Generally agreed to be the first actual search engine – ‘Archie’ (a nickname derived from the word Archives) was developed by Canadian student Alan Emtage in the early 1990s and contained a software ‘robot’ which could locate and index files over a rudimentary version of the internet. Since then an entire industry has been born, has evolved and has matured technologically and economically, as the commercial potential of indexing technology has been exploited. The enormous revenue generation potential of the internet has given rise to spin-off industries and business opportunities such as search engine marketing, pay per click advertising, affiliate marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO). Google has the majority market share of search in the western world by around 90% and is currently the world’s most valuable company at $550 billion. All of this has been built, to a lesser or greater extent, on the concept of ‘keywords’. Interesting, I hear you say, but what are keywords and how can they improve the online performance of my business? Well in the past keywords have typically been used to help search engines decide which pages are most relevant to a user’s search – the more relevant the page content, the more likely it was to be returned on page one of the search results. A big challenge is that the internet has become richer and user intent has become more complex; someone googling ‘Titanic’ in 1999 was most probably interested in academic research about the Titanic, or possibly if they were very tech-savvy, in buying a book about the Titanic from Amazon.com. Today, that user could be looking for information about the Titanic, buying the book, watching the movie, visiting a museum, listening to the soundtrack, looking at old photos or even looking for a hotel or restaurant of the same name, all while travelling across a city in the back of a taxi. Industry consensus seems to be that keywords are still fairly important, but as Google makes around 100 updates per year to its algorithms in its quest to build ‘the ultimate personal assistant’ - and as internet technology evolves - there are now other, more significant, factors which will determine whether or not our websites and services are found. For example, it’s likely that synonyms and topics will become more effective in copywriting than specific keywords. Writing naturally will be more effective than stuffing lots of your target keywords into an article. Another big change is that mobile phone googling has now overtaken desktop googling: the infamous algorithm update during early 2015 was dubbed mobilegeddon due to the severe ranking penalties that Google slapped on websites for not providing mobile-friendly versions of their pages! This trend has been keeping us busy at PDMS for quite a while – both on our own websites and our clients. Creating ‘responsive’ layouts for phones and tablets, increasing the speed with which pages load and providing AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page) versions pages can all help improve the mobile ‘user experience’ and therefore keep ‘Big G’ happy. Mobile optimisation will continue to be important if you want a website to perform well, and according to recent statistics from Google, over 20% of searches carried out are now performed using spoken input: an interesting by-product of increasing mobile internet use combined with OS enhancements such as Siri and other voice recognition technology. This is already leading to some new search trends as people tend to use slightly different phrasing when speaking than they do when typing, with an increased occurrence of question words. Google’s natural language processing is becoming sophisticated enough to understand context, intent, and even the subtleties of intonation. Websites with a high ‘bounce rate’ (where users quickly return back to their search results or another page) will not do as well, while sites with a high ‘click through rate’ (visiting other pages on the same site) and higher than average time spent on pages should do better as this indicates to Google that users are finding useful information. For the real geeks amongst us, web data formats – particularly those that use schema – which provide additional information about the content, are also tipped to give a boost in Google rankings as they will enable very detailed data to be stored, shared and syndicated. In summary, usefulness seems to be the overriding factor as Google and other search providers strive to pick out the most relevant results from more than a billion websites of varying quality. Providing informative, interesting, original, accurate, meaningful, specific, readable information - be it articles, commentary, how-to videos, slides, images, maps or sound clips – should generally give good results and get you found. Google and other large tech firms are making leaps forward in understanding context, semantics and location. For example in the near future by asking ‘what’s that building?’ mobile search may be able to identify the building from your phone’s location, then suggest some additional information or activity based on learned interests that it knows you have, such as architecture, football or social history. We may be some way off the plot of the movie Her (for those that haven’t seen it: man falls in love with computer-generated PA) and yet two-way human-computer interaction and the internet of things is becoming a reality. However, there are challenges ahead for us and for Google – contextual intelligence and anthropomorphic behaviour has potential but personalisation of experiences relies on extensive and very detailed personal data being stored. This raises ethical and legal questions - of personal privacy, data protection and over-reliance on technology. Much of our information may in fact be already available for example via facebook or other ‘walled gardens’ however this is not always shared, and is easily fractured, changed, duplicated and removed. As one of Google’s original founders, Sergey Brin, once said, “Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine.” Let’s hope that choice is always a click away.Tue, 27 Sep 2016 11:57:21 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5798
PNLD and technology provider PDMS launch innovative app to improve victim support News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/sep/pnld-and-technology-provider-pdms-launch-innovative-app-to-improve-victim-support/
The Help for Victims app features answers to an extensive number of frequently asked questions on topics ranging from restorative justice, to crime specific information and legal processes. Importantly, it further directs victims, witnesses and their families to hundreds of organisations which provide support.&#160;Help for Victims can now be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Help for Victims provides a powerful channel for communicating with Victim Support, with the ability to ask questions that are responded to by PNLD staff or Victim Support. Questions posed to the site are generally processed within 24 working hours to provide a fast and efficient service to the local community. Furthermore, in areas where Police and Crime Commissioners have subscribed to the service, the App will provide information and guidance on local support organisations and other information relevant to the local area. The ‘I need Help’ functionality provides the ability for individuals to refer themselves to the local area office of the Victim Support Charity, completely anonymously. This feature also provides translations of all of the guidance into the 5 most recognised languages for the community they reflect; in West Yorkshire those being Polish, Arabic, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu. The local feature is currently only available in the West Yorkshire and Humberside PCC areas, with plans to further roll out the app to other PCCs and expand this functionality, including content in languages prominent in each area. The App also features a question of the day, highlighting areas of current concern or interest, search functionality and the ability to contact Police and Crime Commissioners throughout England and Wales. PNLD, a Business Service of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire, provide online legal products and services to UK police forces and law enforcement agencies, created Help for Victims with the support of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire and in collaboration with Yorkshire and Humber Victim Support. Recognising the value of technology in effectively communicating legal information, PNLD has partnered with PDMS on numerous website and app development projects. The ‘Ask the Police’ website has received well over 50 million hits, whilst the ‘Ask the Police’ app has now been downloaded over 45,000 times; it has reduced the time and resources that the police spend managing 999 emergency calls, saving the police an estimated &#163;25 million per year! Meanwhile, ‘Motoring and the Law’ provides motoring specific FAQ’s and is targeted at motoring enthusiasts, the police and other stakeholders. The launch of the new app is the result of a thriving technology partnership between PNLD and PDMS, and is a demonstration of how the innovative use of mobile technology can be used to improve access to information and in the name of a very good cause!Tue, 27 Sep 2016 09:52:21 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5792
Scottish Government Framework Success News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/sep/scottish-government-framework-success/
The key aim of the ADDS Framework is to provide Scottish public sector and third sector bodies with one-stop access to a commercial arrangement for the purchase of a suite of Application Design and Development Services. Places on the Framework are limited to just 20 and PDMS is delighted to have been selected to help public sector bodies and organisations across Scotland deliver the Scottish Public Sector’s Digital First Strategy. Through the Framework PDMS can provide a range of service including: Digital transformation of existing services; Web based application development; Mobile application design and delivery; and Desktop application design and delivery. According to PDMS Managing Director, Chris Gledhill, PDMS’ place on the national framework will contribute to the expansion of their Scottish workforce. “Three years ago we set up an office in Scotland with just two employees to help build upon our 20 year track record of providing software services to public sector clients” Gledhill said “We now have over 21 people in Glasgow and with the news of the ADDS Framework success, we are about to embark on a new recruitment drive”. The Framework is open to a wide range of public sector bodies in Scotland including local authorities, the Fire Service, NHS, Universities and Colleges, criminal justice and charities. The benefits for organisations using the Framework include efficiency savings in terms of a reduction in procurement and contract administration and cost savings with access to competitive rates. David Stickland, PDMS Sales Director and ADDS Framework Manager commented, “Securing a spot on such a prestigious framework following a highly competitive tendering process is fantastic news for PDMS. Our team have recently delivered a number of exciting new projects in Scotland including Ask the Police Scotland, mobile apps for the University of the West of Scotland and most recently a new employability platform for Fife Council. We are currently expanding our team in Glasgow and are really looking forward to helping new clients benefit from digital transformation”. For more information and to access a Buyers Guide please visit the Scottish Government&#39;s Procurement website.Wed, 07 Sep 2016 10:03:05 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5780
Pok&#233;mon Go Takes the World (and PDMS) by Storm Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/sep/pokémon-go-takes-the-world-and-pdms-by-storm/
Yes – even we are talking about Pok&#233;mon Go. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few weeks, there is very little chance that you have not heard of the new app released by Niantic Labs (a Google spin off company) in association with Nintendo. Pok&#233;monGo is certainly making huge waves globally: it already has more users than Twitter, is #1 in the App store - not to mention Nintendo’s share price has more than doubled since its launch! With millions of people falling in love with Niantic’s newest title, the ingenious use of Augmented Reality (AR) technology is redefining gaming. Given its massive success, we thought it is something worth looking into in a little more detail. Why do people love it? How did the use of a new AR technology make the game an instant success? What is Pok&#233;mon Go? In case you don’t know, Pok&#233;mon Go, which launched in early July, is a game that uses your smartphone’s GPS and clock to detect when and where you are in the game and make Pok&#233;mon (pocket monsters) “appear” on the screen so you can go and catch them.Pok&#233;mon Go players have to journey the physical world, and as you move around, different and more types of Pok&#233;mon will appear depending on where you are and what time it is. The Evolution of Pok&#233;mon Over the past 20 years, Pok&#233;mon has&#160;been a mainstay of popular culture&#160;in the form of video games, animated films, action figures and a collectible card game. However, most thought they had left the world of Pok&#233;mon back in their childhoods. How wrong were they? Pok&#233;mon Go is especially popular among the generation which witnessed the first wave of success in the 90s/early 2000s. Playing Pok&#233;monis current again, and people are re-discovering their favourite pocket monsters from when they were kids, whilst at the same time a whole new generation has been introduced to characters such as Arcanine, Charizard and Flareon. The Technology Pok&#233;mon Go is the epitome of a brand new technology called Augmented Reality (AR) successfully applied in today’s society. AR is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user&#39;s view of the real world. In the case of Pok&#233;mon Go, the technology allows the user to access the phone’s camera which enables a Pok&#233;mon to appear on the screen in amongst their actual surroundings. As these new technologies are becoming mainstream, all it takes is one breakout application to help us understand how much they will impact our lives. Pok&#233;mon Go is that app. With more than 300 million downloads after a few days, this interactive AR game leveraged nostalgia to gain initial traction, and social technology, to get us all absolutely obsessed. Pok&#233;mon Go is a great example of digital transformation. Its publisher Nintendo has successfully recognised current trends in technology and consumer behaviour. Nowadays, our smartphones almost constitute as an extra limb, we use it as a means for communication, a source of information, for navigation services… and mini-game consoles. The craze surrounding Pok&#233;monGo is a direct result of Nintendo’s so-called “same generation hypothesis,” which basically refers to the fact that there are people who continuously, be it consciously or unconsciously, stick to their childhood games, even after they’ve grown up. Can It Actually Be Good for You? Despite what is said in the media about video games, Pok&#233;monGo does actually have some benefits to its users other than the pure entertainment value. The obvious benefit is that people are getting more exercise by having to physically walk to find Pok&#233;mon. Anything that gets people, young people in particular, up and off their couches can only be a good thing in the long run. There is also a real social aspect to this game with Pok&#233;monGo-ers meeting fellow players on their travels. It’s an incredible opportunity to make some friends in an organic, unique way that no video game has ever matched before. And of course, people are exploring places they may have never known about or been to before, that is if they look up from their phones long enough to notice! Controversy &amp;amp; Issues Pok&#233;monGo has, however, received mixed reviews. Some are addicted to it and celebrate this game as the best thing since sliced bread, and then there are the negative reviews and news surrounding the app’s launch with people being disappointed by things such as the limited server capabilities, battery usage and safety issues it evokes. A man in America drove into a police car while playing the game and there have also been reports of muggings and attacks around the world where the victims have been lured to traps set by criminals. Niantic, along with local authorities, are continuously reminding wannabe Pok&#233;mon Trainers to always be aware of their surroundings. The main technical issue people have with the app is how quickly it drains the phone’s battery, so best to plan ahead if you are hunting for your very own Pikachu. As well as this, servers are constantly crashing due to the sheer amount of traffic and high demand, however, Niantic are continuously working on these glitches. What’s Coming Next? Now that some of the initial hype has died down we can take a closer look at how the technologies used in this game could impact us. The potential of these types of games is huge, and it is not a question if there will be follow-ups, but rather, when and what they will be. There are already rumours of a Harry Potter version and with Apple on the brink of investing in it heavily for all iOS devices, it seems AR technology will only get bigger and better. However, even if Augmented Reality turns out to be a ‘flash in the pan’, it will remain a singular moment in pop culture when grown men and women ran about the streets searching for Pok&#233;mon. Despite some of the downsides to Pok&#233;mon which have grabbed headlines, we have to give Nintendo and Niantic massive credit for what they have achieved. They have realised and seized one of many new opportunities brought to us through the rise of digital and mobile technology. Even if the result is not 100% perfect (and what is?), they have undoubtedly kick started a massive trend of new technology becoming mainstream, by re-shaping the image of their organisation, and ultimately, how people are gaming on-the-go.Thu, 01 Sep 2016 12:16:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5774
PDMS to sponsor Garscube Harriers News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/sep/pdms-to-sponsor-garscube-harriers/
PDMS is delighted to announce a new sponsorship agreement with, Glasgow based, Garscube Harriers running club. Dating back to 1898, Garscube Harriers is a club steeped in history and sporting success. Home to 180 seniors and over 150 junior athletes who are coached by a team of 18 volunteer, the club prides itself on being inclusive. Garscube Harriers welcome athletes of all abilities, who may run for fitness, fun, social reasons or personal achievement. Over the years the club has also unearthed many high calibre athletes who have gone on to represent the region, Scotland and Great Britain. Regardless of performance, all members have one common drive: their love of the sport. Commenting on the partnership, Garscube Harrier’s president Jill O’Neil said: “PDMS are a forward thinking company who share similar aims to the club. We welcome the partnership with PDMS as it will enable us to drive forward a number of areas within the club that are critical to our development. Their investment in the club allows us to provide even more opportunities for people within the local community to get involved in the sport of athletics, supports our volunteers and helps our aspiring athletes to reach their potential. They share our aspirations for excellence and we are delighted to be benefiting from their expertise in this way” David Stickland, PDMS Sales Director commented: “PDMS has a long history of supporting the local communities we operate in and this new partnership with Garscube Harriers is an extension of that. We are delighted that the new website and wider partnership is contributing to Garscube Harriers efforts as they continue to encourage more people into athletics.” As part of the sponsorship agreement, PDMS branding will appear on all new club kit and promotional material. PDMS has also developed a new website for the club -&#160;showcasing the club’s sporting events and helping to inspire the next generation of runners.Thu, 01 Sep 2016 11:39:26 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5771
Career Ready Scheme Graduation News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/aug/career-ready-scheme-graduation/
Career Ready Graduates, left to right:&#160;Jessica Swales, James Holmes, Killian Comerford, Duilleann Haywood, Jess Ward, Josh Lowe, Matthew Ward. The Career Ready programme equips able 16-18 year olds on the Isle of Man with the experience and skills they need to be ready to enter employment as they leave school or college (sometimes via higher education). The current focus, supported by the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Education and Children, is on developing career readiness in the IT sector, which now directly engages with 25% of the Island’s economy according to Kurt Roosen, CEO of the Manx ICT Association. Students attended from Ramsey Grammar School and Castle Rushen High School (CRHS) to be presented with their certificates by guest of honour Mr Graham Cregeen, MHK. Mr Cregeen has consistently and enthusiastically supported Career Ready IOM since its inception in 2014. Mathew Ward, one of the CRHS graduates who has already secured employment with Complete Technology of Onchan said, “The Career Ready programme helped me to develop&#160;my confidence and networking skills to the point where I was able to follow my plan to work in the IT sector as soon as the opportunity arose. Joining my current company was the best decision I have ever made!” Pictured above:&#160;Jessica Swales receiving her graduation certificate from Graham Cregeen, MHK Graham Cregeen MHK, said, “I want to thank all the volunteers who had the vision to start this programme and to see it through at just the right time for the Island’s young people and the business community. Without them these opportunities would not have emerged. It is clear that the Career Ready programme is well placed to enhance the skills of our young workforce and to meet the needs of our employers”. Continuing the programme, current 17 year old students are now taking part in their paid summer internships and the next cohort of students will be recruited in September from all 16+ educational organisations in the Isle of Man. Expressions of interest from parents, students and schools/colleges should be made via email to Jo Davies, Career Ready Coordinator at cready.im@gmail.com.Mon, 22 Aug 2016 10:58:14 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5766
Supporting young adults through training and apprenticeship schemes News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/aug/supporting-young-adults-through-training-and-apprenticeship-schemes/
PDMS is strongly involved in issues surrounding employability and are always looking for ways to support our local communities. In addition to providing 6 internships and 7 school work placements internally, we’ve used our employed.im platform to administer the Isle of Man’s entire work experience programme, delivering placements to almost 1000 Yr 10 and 11 students. We have provided a number of internship opportunities in Glasgow, with previous students from the University of the West of Scotland joining us last year to work part-time in conjunction with their courses. As a result, Ewa Doniec was offered a permanent role as an Assistant Web Developer upon graduation. Two undergraduate students have also joined for summer placements after finishing their first year at university. In Glasgow, Public Relations student, Erin Dunn has joined the team to work on a number of marketing projects, and in the Isle of Man, Keiren Rowney, who has just completed his first year studying Computer Security with Forensics, has joined our Infrastructure team. Not stopping there, PDMS also support wider work experience programmes, and this summer A-Level student Lewis Dawson has taken up a place with the development team at PDMS&#39; office in the Isle of Man under the ‘Career Ready’ internship scheme. Career Ready is a scheme that links employers to schools and colleges to open up the world of working in Information Technology to young people. PDMS COO and Career Ready mentor Peter Quayle working with Lewis Dawson We are also pleased to announce that we are due to take part in the Manx ICT Association (MICTA) apprenticeship programme. MICTA members, together with the Department of Economic Development and University College Isle of Man, have developed a new two-year Digital Apprenticeship Scheme, giving young people the opportunity to work for some of the most exciting and dynamic companies in the ICT sector. Participants will combine workplace experience, with classroom and remote learning. The Apprentices will be employed for the duration of the apprenticeship, paid a wage and gain exposure to the ICT community on the Island. Furthermore, we have been continuing our involvement with the University College of Man (UCM). Each year, PDMS is involved with a number of UCM projects for students studying at different levels in Information Technology, endeavouring to provide valuable, real-world briefs for student projects. We are also involved with Junior Achievement and other mentoring programmes, such as MCR Pathways. UCM students present their final project to Research Vannin and PDMS Work experience gives students an opportunity to experience the world of work, allowing them to make informed choices about their career path. Such placements develop important personal skills such as confidence, communication and independence. It’s always such a pleasure to see the difference just a weeks placement can make, with an initially shy student gaining confidence and learning skills! It’s also an opportunity for employers to gain perspectives from younger people and develop mentoring skills. PDMS is deeply invested in employability issues locally and further afield, which is why 8 years ago we decided to set up PDMS Employed in the form of Manx Graduates, something which has since come on a long way. Through our dedicated team, we have developed our technology to enhance and improve the way employability programmes are managed for both students and employers – joining up education and the labour market. In 2016 alone, PDMS Employed is being used to deliver the Isle of Man’s work experience programme through employed.im, coordinating 1,500 weeks of placements for the 5 secondary schools throughout the academic year. This technology is now also being used in business for membership and employment opportunities management, saving administrative time and effort. Our clients include&#160;Fife Council, Manchester Textiles and Skills Portal, Manx ICT Association and the Isle of Man Construction Federation. At PDMS we aim to continue improving our efforts in helping to develop young people’s careers and expanding our efforts beyond our local communities. If you would like to find out more about the opportunities we offer and the work we do concerning employability, please get in touch with Richard Graham at PDMS. Or, if we&#39;ve sparked your interest and you want to apply for the MICTA apprenticeship, then head over to employed.im to prepare your CV and apply online&#160;here!Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:22:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5764
Two new major quality and security certification awards for PDMS News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/aug/two-new-major-quality-and-security-certification-awards-for-pdms/
PDMS is pleased to announce that it has been awarded two new major quality and security certifications. Following a successful audit by LRQA, PDMS is one of the first companies on the Isle of Man to achieve accredited certification to the new ISO 9001:2015 quality management system. The local software company has also been awarded the UK Government’s new Cyber Essential Certificate of Compliance. ISO 9001 is the world’s most widely recognized standard for quality management systems, and its latest revision was published on 23 September 2015. The standard helps organizations consistently meet the needs of customers and other key stakeholders in both the delivery and continuous improvement of products and services. PDMS has held ISO 9001 certification for over 13 years, together with the ISO 27001 security and ISO 14001 environmental certifications. According to Simon Edwards PDMS Quality and Standards Manager, the new 2015 version is the first major revision since 2008 and reflects changes in the business operating environment including increased globalisation and more complex supply chains. Simon commented “We are delighted to achieve the new standard and hot on the heels of the Cyber Essentials award. We have a well-established quality management system which has allowed us to meet all of the requirements of this new standard well in advance of the three year implementation time deadline”. This award comes just a few weeks after PDMS announced that it has been awarded the UK Government’s new Cyber Essential Certificate of Compliance. Cyber Essentials is a new UK Government-backed and industry-supported scheme that guides businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats; allowing organisations to demonstrate to customers and partners that cyber security is taken seriously. The Cyber Essentials scheme was introduced in June 2014 as part of a growing government interest in improving the state of the UK’s cybersecurity, and is now obligatory for all businesses bidding on sensitive data contracts. To achieve certification, PDMS has had to demonstrate that it meets the required standard of clarity on good basic cyber security practice. Neal Kelly, PDMS Infrastructure &amp;amp; Facilities Manager commented; “The Cyber Essentials certificate, together with our existing ISO27001 certification, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to high-security standards for all customers, in both the public and private sector”. PDMS Quality &amp;amp; Standards Manager, Simon Edwards and Infrastructure Manager, Neal Kelly.Mon, 15 Aug 2016 09:50:41 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5758
Laying new digital foundations for the Isle of Man Construction Federation News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jul/laying-new-digital-foundations-for-the-isle-of-man-construction-federation/
PDMS is delighted to have worked with the Isle of Man Construction Federation (IOMCF) to provide a new brand identity, website and membership management system - making it easier for members of the public to find accredited suppliers for the job in hand. The IOMCF administers the Isle of Man Government’s List of Approved Contractors through the Manx Accredited Construction Contractors Scheme (MACCS). In this role, the IOMCF reviews applications and maintains a list of the Island’s accredited construction companies. Previously known as the Employers Federation, PDMS worked with the IOMCF to create a new brand for the renamed organisation. This included creating a new website www.iomcf.im, designed and built by PDMS’ design and development teams, with a fresh new look and online membership directory. Individuals can use the website to find quality local companies and confidently get in touch to find the right tradesman for their projects. The membership management of the IOMCF is now powered by employed.im – a careers and employability portal featuring the Island’s latest job and placement opportunities, and a range of other services and administration tools for employers and organisations. By using employed.im, the IOMCF has been able to reduce administration time and members can now take control of their own company details directly and in real time. In addition to providing an online membership directory, the IOMCF website now features specialist job opportunities on the Island through a dedicated industry feed, provided through employed.im. IOMCF members now have a single, central point where they can quickly and easily maintain their profiles, advertise and find available job vacancies. Steve Woodward, Secretary of the IOMCF Group, comments; “The new website is a great new resource for both members of the Construction Federation and anybody on the Island looking for a contractor. In addition to a fresh new look, we’ve been able to tap into the benefits of using employed.im to manage our membership – giving us more time to focus on providing advice and guidance.“ Future developments plans for the IOMCF website include client testimonials and business ratings so individuals can see first-hand accounts of previous clients and projects completed. By working alongside PDMS and employed.im, the IOMCF has created a useful and cost effective solution for the Construction Industry. If you would like to find out more about the IOMCF and how we might help your organisation – get in touch with PDMS or pop in for a chat!Thu, 28 Jul 2016 15:24:31 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5750
Employer Engagement in Education and Training Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/jul/employer-engagement-in-education-and-training/
Last week we had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the excellent London 2016 Conference on Employer Engagement in Education and Training. Several themes stood out over the course of the two days. Here are 5 of them… 1. Employer engagement is important During his talk on, ‘Employer Engagement in Governance’, Lord Nash said he wanted every school in England to have one person working full time on employer engagement related activities. Similarly, Adrian Lyons from Ofsted reported on an extensive survey Ofsted have recently completed on employer engagement in England. The recommendations of this report, due to be published later this year, will show just how seriously Ofsted are taking employer engagement. 2. Employer engagement is challenging The opening speaker, Simon Field from the OECD, made the argument that employer engagement was difficult because of culture, institutions and economics. He said employer engagement has been taken over by the classroom, which means our training environments are being led by an institution that has no experience of the workplace. He also touched on the fact that vocational training is not ‘cool’ enough and must do better to attract young people away from the ‘university experience’ that is cherished by so many. 3. Employer engagement is international One of the best things about the conference was the number of different countries represented. The digital revolution is truly a global revolution and consequently every country is having to adapt their strategy to ensure they produce the necessary skills for the future workplace. Countries highlighted as thought leaders in this field included Sweden, Norway and Austria. 4. Employer engagement demands creativity In 2011 the Wolf Review encouraged a change in the focus of work experience. Since then, there has been an enormous amount of creativity in the industry to ensure effective delivery and this was represented by the plethora of different programs working to engage education with employers. 5. Employer engagement must be delivered strategically Teachers will be glad to know there were representatives from various schools who were quick to point out that teachers’ workloads are already bursting at the seams without the responsibility of hitting employer engagement targets. This is also true for many employers’ who want to deliver employer engagement but don’t feel like they have the time or resources. Therefore, if we are going to improve the delivery of employer engagement in education we can’t simply create more work or build new programmes. Instead, we have to think strategically about how we can maximise employer engagement with minimal administration. That’s why Chris gave his presentation the title, ‘Being Smart about Employer Engagement’, and explained how we have implemented PDMS Employed across the Isle of Man to streamline employability services. So far we have created a single point of entry for multiple job listings and out of a working population of 30,000 we have around 20% of the workforce and 80% of active employers enrolled on the system. We can schedule 1,500 weeks of work experience per annum for 5 secondary schools and have listed 14,537 vacancies in the last 12 months. Oh, and we do all of this with one Work Experience Co-ordinator working across 5 high schools! Our work experience co-ordinator is very good but she couldn’t do it without PDMS Employed. This was the first time PDMS had been involved in an Education and Employers Research event and it definitely won’t be the last. You can see the presentations here and view the top tweets from the event here. If you would like to discuss how we could help your organisation deliver employer engagement services through PDMS Employed please get in touch with Richard Graham (richard.graham@pdms.com).Tue, 26 Jul 2016 14:08:15 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5743
PDMS expands with new additions to the team News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jul/pdms-expands-with-new-additions-to-the-team/
Following a busy start to 2016 which has included three major new contract awards and an increase in demand from existing customers, new roles have been created in PDMS’ support, technical and business development teams. Left to right - Jadwiga, Taylor, Vicky, Dave, Adam join PDMS based in the Isle of Man The Support team, which works closely with clients once systems and websites have gone live, has added three new team members. David Kelly joins PDMS as a Support Analyst, returning to the IT industry after several years as Operational Manager in a local wholesalers. David’s previous experience includes support and development roles with AXA and Standard Bank. As someone who enjoys the challenge of problem solving, David is looking forward to resuming his career in analysis. Adam Cooper and Taylor Davidson have been appointed to Trainee Support Analyst roles where they will provide day to day support to our clients whilst also further developing their skills in analysis and testing. Adam holds a BA (Hons) in International Business from Sheffield Hallam University and brings previous analysis experience gained in roles at in RL360 and Zedra. With a Prince2 Foundation qualification, Adam is keen to build on his analysis skills in a software development environment. Taylor joins PDMS from QEII High School and with an interest in engineering and being a logical thinker – a career in analysis appealed. The “Career Ready” programme helped Taylor gain both insight and practical experience of the IT industry. Elsewhere in the company, Jadwiga Malkiewicz has joined the Development Team as a Business Analyst. Originally based in Cape Town, South Africa, Jadwiga brings her knowledge in business analyst from RCS – a retail, credit and financial services provider. Passionate about building relationships and solving problems, Jadwiga enjoys working with new technologies and improvement of business processes for clients. Vicky Rogers recently took up the position of Office Coordinator from Bradda Glen Restaurant and Tea Rooms, where she was the Wedding and Function Coordinator. Having completed a hospitality management course at the Isle of Man College and with experience gained in various roles including the aviation industry, Vicky is well suited to the challenges of helping to run a busy office. Meanwhile, in our Glasgow office, John Rae joins PDMS as a Business Development Executive. John’s role will be key in building and maintaining relationships throughout Scotland and the UK. John’s previous experience comes from the Recruitment industry with in-depth knowledge of the Commercial &amp;amp; Legal sectors. John Rae joins the PDMS Glasgow offices Managing Director, Chris Gledhill comments, “I’m delighted to welcome Adam, David, Jadwiga, John, Taylor and Vicky to the growing team. It’s an exciting time to join PDMS as we have some fantastic projects underway, working with clients locally in the Isle of Man and Scotland and internationally too”. The demand on desks at PDMS this summer will continue as a number of new interns will be joining the company to gain experience across a number of departments. Public Relations undergraduate, Erin Dunn, has joined our Glasgow office on a summer placement to work on a number of Marketing projects. Lewis Dawson will be taking up a place in the development team at PDMS’ head office in the Isle of Man under the Career Ready internships scheme. Under the new MICTAcademy scheme, PDMS is also pleased to offer a Network Engineering role as part of a 2 year apprenticeship programme.Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:59:12 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5738
PDMS secures new UK Government Cyber Essentials Certificate News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jul/pdms-secures-new-uk-government-cyber-essentials-certificate/
PDMS Ltd is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the UK Government’s new Cyber Essential Certificate of Compliance. Cyber Essentials is a new UK Government-backed and industry-supported scheme that guides businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats; allowing organisations to demonstrate to customers and partners that cyber security is taken seriously. The Cyber Essentials Scheme covers the basics of cyber security in an organisation’s enterprise or corporate IT system. It concentrates on five key controls: 1. Boundary firewalls and internet gateways - these are devices designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from private networks, but good setup of these devices either in hardware or software form is important for them to be fully effective. 2. Secure configuration – ensuring that systems are configured in the most secure way for the needs of the organisation 3. Access control – Ensuring only those who should have access to systems to have access and at the appropriate level. 4. Malware protection – ensuring that virus and malware protection is installed and is it up to date 5. Patch management – ensuring the latest supported version of applications is used and all the necessary patches supplied by the vendor been applied. The Cyber Essentials scheme was introduced in June 2014 as part of a growing government interest in improving the state of the UK’s cybersecurity, and is now obligatory for all businesses bidding on sensitive data contracts To achieve certification, PDMS has had to demonstrate that it meets the required standard of clarity on good basic cyber security practice. Neal Kelly, PDMS Infrastructure &amp;amp; Facilities Manager commented “The Cyber Essentials certificate, together with our existing ISO27001 certification, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to high security standards for all customers – in the public and private sector”. In tandem with our ISO27001 certification, Cyber Essentials demonstrates PDMS’ ongoing commitment to delivering secure online systems to both government and private sector clients. PDMS, an approved GCloud supplier, works with a number of central and local UK Government organisations and the Cyber Essentials certification provides added reassurance in relation to the company’s IT security.Wed, 13 Jul 2016 12:41:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5728
PDMS joins The Scottish Council for Development and Industry News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jul/pdms-joins-the-scottish-council-for-development-and-industry/
PDMS is pleased to announce an alliance with The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) in a bid to increase the impact we have on the economic growth of Scotland. The decision to join SCDI is part of a long term strategy that has seen our Scottish operation grow dramatically. SCDI is an independent and inclusive economic development network which seeks to influence and inspire Government and key stakeholders with an ambitious vision to create sustainable economic growth for Scotland. PDMS has a long and successful history of creating lasting economic growth in various places around the world. For example, our ferry ticketing solution is helping countries provide affordable and citizen friendly ferry services. Similarly, our employability solution is helping local authorities join up employability services to get more people into sustainable long term employment. This new alliance will allow us to provide input into the future of Scotland’s economic development and also help us gain a better understanding of how we can help Scotland flourish in the years to come. It will also help us influence and debate with key decision makers within the Scottish economy on issues that affect the country and our clients. Find out more about SCDI and the work they do here.Thu, 07 Jul 2016 16:54:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5719
employed.im in action Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/jul/employedim-in-action/
We are now half way through 2016 and it’s been an exceptionally busy year for the team at PDMS working on our various “Employed” projects – including the Isle of Man’s employed.im portal. So much has changed since we originally launched the service as Manx Graduates way back in 2008 - that we thought we should take the opportunity to tell you more about what we’ve been up to and, more importantly, how this benefits Isle of Man businesses, organisations, charities and the general public. Some of you may remember the original Manx Graduates website, a portal originally launched to promote jobs on the Isle of Man with the idea of encouraging graduates to return to the Island after finishing their education. Rebranded as employed.im in 2014, the portal brings together a range of tools for both businesses and individuals – now offering so much more than just jobs listings and careers guidance. There are two key parts to the employed.im portal. The first is a website which provides information and resources, including careers advice and information about local events. Secondly, this connects to a system which local organisations can use to post opportunities – anything from job vacancies or apprenticeships through to placements or volunteering possibilities. Our vision for employed.im is to join up skills, employment, education, professional development and volunteering on the Isle of Man through one easy to use portal – avoiding duplication and making life easier for everyone, whether you’re an employer, individual, training provider or charity. So what have we done so far to progress this vision? On the Island… employed.im is now used by the Island’s secondary schools to manage work experience placements. Lorna Trevethan is employed.im’s Work Experience Co-ordinator and she has been helping to shape the development of the employed.im system to progress the work placement process online; saving time and providing better access to information for schools, pupils and employers. The Island’s Construction Federation (www.iomcf.im)is using employed.im to manage their membership, with&#160;accredited members&#160;able to manage their information directly and in real time. In addition, employed.im feeds relevant jobs through to their new website, also provided by PDMS as part of our service. We’ve also launched a new website for Isle of Man Engineering and Manufacturing (www.engineeringiom.com)which features a real time jobs feed of relevant vacancies from employed.im. employed.im powers the popular jobs feed on Manx Telecom’s Manx.net and isleofman.com. Previews of the Isle of Man Engineering and Manufacturing website, and the&#160;employed.im Manx.net feed Further afield…. We’ve been speaking at conferences around the UK and talking to a wide range of people from Colleges and Universities through to Local Authorities about our vision for a more joined up labour market. Most recently, we’ve been involved in two exciting new project launches: The Alliance Project based at New Economy in Greater Manchester is using our Employed software as a gateway for promoting careers and skills development in the UK textiles sector. PDMS Employed is helping to join up skills and employment initiatives for all ages groups in Fife with the recent launch of Opportunities Fife (www.opportunitiesfife.org). Preview of Opportunities Fife As a result of all this activity, we’ve greatly enhanced the system: We’re saving businesses time with a new feature which, with one click, automatically sends job listings directly to the Job Centre at the same time as posting on employed.im Our Programme Management tool provides straightforward co-ordination of groups across a variety of initiatives, including mentoring and job seekers guidance. Lorna is already using this tool with local schools for co-ordinating the Island’s Year 10 Work Experience Programme. Not wanting to rest on our laurels we’ve lots more planned for employed.im including: Forms and workflows – use employed.im to manage your online applications Events – promote your events, create checklists, manage sign-ups and attendees Memberships – manage annual renewals, DBS checks and subscriptions Online payments – take payments for memberships or charitable donations or even training, CPD, and event booking subscriptions Don’t forget, it’s completely free of charge to post any of your job vacancies or other opportunities on employed.im. If you’d like to find out what employed.im could do for your business or organisation get in touch admin@employed.im or 664000, or even better, call in to Global House at the Isle of Man Business Park for a coffee and a chat!Fri, 01 Jul 2016 10:36:38 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5680
Partnership is key at CDN Emporium Finale Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/jun/partnership-is-key-at-cdn-emporium-finale/
Representatives from Skills Development Scotland, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, SQA, Education Scotland and Colleges Scotland were amongst the speakers who spoke on a number of engaging topics. It was clear to everyone at the event that there is a plethora of services dedicated to improving the skills and employability of our workforce. For example, Foundation Apprenticeships are giving young people early exposure to the world of work; The Princes Trust are providing NEET’s with vital work experience opportunities; Glasgow Chamber of Commerce are creating new links to employers for the three colleges in their area; BEMIS are providing a pathway for Ethnic Minorities to get into Modern Apprenticeships. There was plenty of time to network during the event, which provided a good opportunity to reflect on the content of the presentations. During this time everyone was upbeat about the industry and the vast amount of attention being given to equipping Scotland’s workforce and future workforce with the skills they need for the world of work. Due to the increased focus in this area, colleges and other education providers are now managing more relationships with learners, employers and schools in multiple different programmes like work placements, mentoring, apprenticeships and employment. Therefore, the industry must be smart about how it operates to ensure services are presented clearly to those who need them most and public investment is used efficiently. We sponsored the event because we believe PDMS Employed is the piece of the jigsaw that can bring all of these excellent services together into one manageable place. We were able to highlight this during our workshop session where we provided a short case study covering our work in the Isle of Man and Fife Council. In Fife Council, we have launched a pilot of PDMS Employed which is already creating a bridge between High Schools, Fife College and Fife Council. This is ensuring Fife Council residents have one central skills and employability portal and splits one IT service between three separate groups. Please do get in touch if you were at the CDN Finale but didn’t get a chance to speak with the us.Tue, 21 Jun 2016 09:29:09 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5671
PDMS Employed invested in developing the workforce News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jun/pdms-employed-invested-in-developing-the-workforce/
PDMS Employed are delighted to be sponsoring the CDN Emporium Finale 2016 - supporting college and employer partnerships in Scotland and developing the workforce. PDMS&#39; Chris Gledhill, MD, and Richard Graham will be&#160;attending the College Development Network conference supported by students, colleges and their partners, including a range of employers, offers a rich mix of presentations, workshops, interactive stalls, networking opportunities, panel sessions, and discussions, with a focus on: creating opportunities to&#160;share practices and ideas&#160;from colleges, schools, employers and others leading discussions to debate appropriate ways forward in developing Scotland&#39;s workforce. Chris and Richard will be participating in a number of discussions and panels, speaking about the issues arising. Their workshop, Being Smart about College &amp;amp; Employer Partnerships, will provide an overview and present a case study of recent work carried out in Scotland and the Isle of Man to face these challenges head on: About the Conference CDN Emporium: Inspiring Ideas. Developing the Workforce The CDN Emporium 2016: Inspiring Ideas&#160;will take place 01 to 17 June, offering a fortnight of thought-provoking and practical workshops, seminars and activities at our offices in Scotland and in colleges across Scotland. This year the CDN Emporium will explore&#160;‘Developing the Workforce’&#160;as a theme, focusing firmly on the current needs and challenges facing colleges. The Emporium creates opportunities to: Share inspiring practices and success stories from Colleges, their partners including Schools, Employers and Students Lead and discuss inspiring ideas that shape a transforming workforce development agenda. Join the conversation with @PDMS and&#160;@ColDevNet #emporiumCDNFri, 17 Jun 2016 10:00:58 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5670
PDMS set to host entertaining networking event during IFB with IOM Maritime Group News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jun/pdms-set-to-host-entertaining-networking-event-during-ifb-with-iom-maritime-group/
The invitation only reception will promote the Isle of Man as an international Maritime Centre of Excellence and showcase the wide range of maritime related services that the Group&#39;s members have to offer to 100 key contacts. The event will take place between 14:00 and 18:00 on Friday 24th June. The International Festival of Business (IFB) attracts prominent business leaders from around the globe for three weeks of conferences and seminars. The festival is delivered by Liverpool Vision in partnership with UK Trade &amp;amp; Investment and helps British businesses trade internationally. As a result of the relationships built at the 2014 festival, trade and investment deals worth&#160;&#163;280 million were made. This is the second time that the Isle of Man Maritime Group has held an event during the festival, with the Group&#39;s first and inaugural event taking place in 2014 (pictured left: guests on board the Kathleen and May during the 2014 event). In keeping with the maritime theme, and the Group&#39;s approach to hosting entertaining and memorable occasions, the reception will again take place on the beautifully restored Kathleen and May tall Ship, situated in Albert Dock. The event will further feature a delicious hog roast, fine wines and a choice of cocktails, as well as live Manx music from Birlinn Jiarg. This follows on from the Group&#39;s hugely successful event during London International Shipping Week in 2015, for which the Group was nominated for the &#39;Freedom to Flourish&#39; award at the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence. This event has involved close collaboration with the Isle of Man&#39;s Department of Economic Development (DED), and will follow on from its &quot;Funding Business at Every Stage&quot; event, which will launch a &#163;50million Enterprise Development Scheme. Members taking part in the event include: the Isle of Man Ship Registry,&#160;PDMS Maritime, MHG Insurance, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement and the IOM Shipping Association. To register your interest in being part of the Group or attending the event, please get in touch through&#160;enquiries@iom-maritime.comWed, 08 Jun 2016 16:32:43 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5649
New website developed to enhance engineering and manufacturing careers News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jun/new-website-developed-to-enhance-engineering-and-manufacturing-careers/
Isle of Man Engineering and Manufacturing has launched a new website www.engineeringiom.com, designed and developed by PDMS, aimed at increasing awareness of engineering and manufacturing careers on the Island. Although the Isle of Man’s engineering and manufacturing sectors support diverse markets across the world, the Island suffers from a skills shortage in this area. The site has been designed to provide information for people considering a career in engineering, no matter what stage they are at in their life. The Awareness of Careers in Engineering Programme (ACE) was launched in 2008 as part of the Engineering Sector Skills Group’s ambitions to ensure the Island’s engineering and manufacturing businesses are able to recruit local people with the required skills, creating sustainable growth in support of the Government’s strategy for a diverse, dynamic economy. Comparative to other economies further ashore, the Island boasts low unemployment rates of just 1.6% (recorded April 2016). However, the Isle of Man has to deal with the challenge of skills gaps which now occur in specialised sectors, such as Health, Technical and Engineering - who are recruiting within workers who lack the skills required in that field. With the manufacturing sector creating up to 80 new jobs a year, competing against the emergence of new industries such as ecommerce, where growth is rapid and specialised skills are not yet a requirement, the local economy is fast on the tipping point, where employment from further afield is becoming necessary to maintain services on Island - highlighting the necessity to develop a highly skilled local workforce in order to ensure continued future successes. The Isle of Man Engineering and Manufacturing website aims to champion the Engineering sector by creating a resource to inform and encourage people from an early age to undertake further training into more highly skilled jobs, beginning to close the skills gap within the industry. In addition to relevant resources and guidance, the website features latest news and events updates, and showcases local job opportunities and companies within the engineering &amp;amp; manufacturing sector. The website uses a real time job vacancy feed from employed.im, where companies can list their opportunities for free and job seekers can quickly find local career building opportunities. The site is filled with useful resources and insights to spark people’s interest and hopefully inspire them to pursue a career in engineering. It includes advice on training options for people at any stage in their career such as Key Stage students, undergraduates, apprenticeships and individuals already in employment but seeking a career change. Interviews from previous Engineering students now working in industry provides first-hand accounts of their experiences and also advice for people considering following in their footsteps. Sector Skills Champion, Adrian Harrison explains the importance of the new careers hub; “The sector hopes that bringing the information together and presenting it on the website will help people all over our island understand what engineering is, what the sector does on the island towards engineering and how people can develop the skills needed to be have a very rewarding career in our sector. I’d like to thank the great team at PDMS for all their hard work in helping deliver a great new careers resource for the Isle of Man” Dedicated to raising awareness of the industry, Adrian also hosts the annual Isle of Man Engineering &amp;amp; Manufacturing careers event every March,promoting the Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering Course (first two years of the sectors Apprenticeship Scheme – applications being taken now), run in conjunction with the University College Isle of Man, where employers, students and prospective students are encouraged to get involved to see for themselves the types of exciting careers and lifestyles are available. Local software company PDMS has developed employed.im to help connect employment, education and skills on the Island. By combining the PDMS Employed careers and membership platform with great graphic design skills, they are developing a number of new websites for organisations on the Island including the recently launched Employers Federation website. Visit http://www.engineeringiom.com/ to explore and discover what the Island’s Engineering and Manufacturing sector has to offer. Feedback on the site is openly welcomed, aiding the sector in building skills of individuals and businesses is at the heart. Adrian Harrison endeavours to create strong and secure career paths for anyone embarking on the journey from any stage or level of their own careers. Contact Adrian by email cloud-nine@manx.net or call +44 7624 498769 for more information.Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:31:41 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5648
Peter Quayle speaks about the importance of relationships at Career Ready networking evening News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jun/peter-quayle-speaks-about-the-importance-of-relationships-at-career-ready-networking-evening/
On Tuesday 24th May twelve Career Ready students, employers&#160;from the IT Sector and Graham Cregeen (MHK) attended an IT career networking event at Noa Bakehouse. The evening commenced with Career Ready Mentor Peter Quayle (PDMS), who is also hosting an internship this summer, sharing his career experiences and explaining the importance of creating &amp;amp; maintaining networking relationship. Tom Gough (Thomas Patrick Creative Agency) followed and outlined his career history to date. Tom left Ramsey Grammar School at 17 years to start up his own IT Business, now continuing successes of his design company at just 18 years old! Oliver Steriopulos from Noc396, who will be providing an internship this summer, stated “I thought the Noa Bake House event was a really good idea and worked very well indeed. Good timing and venue for the audience.” Morgan Skillicorn from Ramsey Grammar School commented: “I am not comfortable talking to employers but the relaxed atmosphere broke down these barriers. Thanks to all the employers for giving up their time this evening – I really enjoyed it!” What is Career Ready? The Career Ready programme offers practical learning to help young people develop the skills they need for a career in IT which is linked to their academic studies or interests. Running on the Island since 2014 the Career Ready programme involves 4 schools: Ramsey Grammar School, QEII, Castle Rushen and St Ninian’s working together to deliver an IT-themed Career Ready programme. Classroom learning is married to direct contact with the workplace and employers that makes the Career Ready programme stand out. The Career Ready programme consists of 4 pillars – masterclasses, mentoring, workplace visits and internships. It provides the opportunity for schools, colleges &amp;amp; employers to work together in highly productive ways to develop future talent pipelines, to ensure the curriculum is meeting the local employer skill needs and to help transform young people’s life chances. Businesses involved on the Isle of Man Employer support is growing for the programme as more and more local companies recognise the value in developing future talent for the island’s growing ICT industry. Good and enthusiastic collaboration between Government departments, third sector volunteers and the Manx ICT Association has been the key to success of the programme. Career Ready’s initiative has been backed by the Department of Economic and Development and Department of Education and Children and is also supported by employers on the Isle of Man. These include: PDMS, Noc396, Hansard Global, GTS (IOM Government Cabinet Office), AFD Software, Ramsey, IT Works, WiManx, FutureTech Ltd, Netcetera, Isle of Man Post Office, Annexio, Galileo Fund Services Limited, Lloyds Banking Group, Caledonia Ltd, and Isle of Man Government Departments; E-gaming, Project Managers, Network Architects and E-business managers. For more information about Career Ready and find out how you can get involved visit&#160;www.careerready.org.ukMon, 06 Jun 2016 12:26:15 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5637
Why password rage may become a thing of the past Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/jun/why-password-rage-may-become-a-thing-of-the-past/
How many times have you struggled to recall your password or PIN number – whether logging in to a website or dialling into a call centre? It’s become a regular frustration for most of us – as more and more services are moving online we have to remember a multitude of user names, passwords, security questions etc. According to a recent survey by Centrify, the average person has to remember at least 19 passwords for logging into computers, email, online banking, social media, internet shopping and work accounts. If, like me, you are a serial offender when it comes to forgetting passwords, particularly for websites or services you don’t use very often, you’ll be able to identify with “password rage” – especially when asked to recall the fourth and eighteenth letter of your first pet’s middle name. The same survey categorically demonstrated that I’m not alone – with respondents rating forgetting a password as more annoying than misplacing their keys, and a mobile phone battery dying. Apparently one in six people have admitted that they cause disruption in the office by screaming or shouting if they can&#39;t remember their password, with one in seven moaning at work colleagues! When we’ve calmed down after being instructed that, due to our own ineptitude, we have been locked out of our accounts, we then have to tackle the reset password process. Sometimes this works smoothly, but more often than not I find myself frantically clicking the refresh button whilst waiting for the e-mail to land in my inbox, so I can actually finish what I was trying to do 20 minutes ago when my blood pressure was a lot lower. If verifying who we are is a pain for consumers, it’s even more of a headache for the service providers – whether online retailers, service providers such as banks or insurance companies and even governments. Companies are collectively losing billions of pounds a year to fraud through identity theft and password hacks. In 2014 fraud in relation to telephone banking alone increased with losses soaring 20% to 13.4 million in 2014 from &#163;11.6 million in 2013. Much of this fraud is down to poor password management – with frustrated people indulging in risky password practice such as writing down passwords or using insecure four digit pins such as 1234 or 1111. If this sounds familiar - it would be a good idea to change your passwords! According to a YouGov poll commissioned by HSBC, more than one third of UK consumers use the same password across most of their online accounts and more than half rarely update their passwords. Organisations are now actively seeking an alternative to passwords and PINS to help improve customer service and to reduce the losses occurred through fraud. Biometrics looks set to be the new paradigm in user authentication. Biometrics helps identify individuals based on their physical or behavioural features. It involves verification and identification of physiological traits through fingerprints, face recognition, DNA, palm vein prints, hand geometry, and iris recognition, and of behavioural traits through keystroke patterns and speech pattern/voice recognition. Voice biometrics is the one area which is gaining significant traction, particularly in the financial services sector. It involves capturing and comparing a voice signature. Voice biometrics software identifies a person through their unique voiceprint – measuring characteristics such as pitch and rhythm to create a “fingerprint” or rather a “voiceprint” that is unique to that voice. These voiceprints are made using voice biometrics technology that can analyses over 50 unique physical traits of the vocal tract, such as mouth shape and size, nasal passages, as well as behavioural factors including pronunciation, emphasis, speed of speech and accent. So a voice signature isn’t just a recording of a person’s voice which is then stored in a database, which could be stolen or reused just like a password or a pin, it’s a mathematical representation of features based on complex algorithms. Recent developments in the performance and accuracy in voiceprint technology, and the fact that most mobile devices now have microphones, make voice biometrics a viable and more main stream option for customer authentication and fraud prevention. It is gaining significant momentum around the world with the voice biometrics authentication market poised to grow from $200M (2013) to $750M globally in 2017. Understandably, the financial services sector is leading the way as they have an ever increasing need to combat fraud whilst also providing their customers with high levels of security, privacy and convenience. Barclays Bank is already successfully using voice biometrics technology, with HSBC announcing earlier this year that they would be introducing voice recognition and touch security services. In addition, voice biometrics has the potential to deliver significant cost savings by significantly reducing the amount of time call handlers spend on the phone with customers. It could be a game changer for Government’s too as they look to move more and more services online. Being able to accurately identify and verify a citizen is crucial if governments want to successfully encourage citizens to self-service through digital platforms or call centres. Back in 2009, the Australian Government implemented a voice biometric solutions in their Social Security department and the Australian Tax Office has also recently embraced voice biometric technology, with over 1.5 million people having already enrolled a voice print. From a consumer’s perspective, it seems that we are more than happy to embrace voice biometrics. The YouGov poll showed that 75% of 16 to 24-year-olds would have no problem using biometric security, with 69% expecting it to be faster and easier than a password or a PIN. The same survey also found that 78% of more than 2,000 adult respondents were confident that their body is unique enough to be used as an identifier and 74% felt this would be the default password in future. It looks like voice biometrics could help alleviate one of the ever expanding list of modern day frustrations – with password rage thankfully soon becoming a thing of the past. Now we just need to resolve road rage, trolley rage and the recently discovered wrapping rage – sadly no reflection on Kayne West’s musical talents – but rather the gargantuan struggle we face in opening packaging!Fri, 03 Jun 2016 16:01:06 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5633
PDMS set to attend Posidonia 2016 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/may/pdms-set-to-attend-posidonia-2016/
Posidonia&#39;s biennial international shipping exhibition is a highlight of the maritime calendar and attracts exhibitors and visitors from around the globe. The 2014 exhibition saw a record 1,843 exhibitors and 20,000 buyers from 96 countries in attendance. The 2016 festival, which takes place at the Metropolitan Expo, again features a large number of conferences and seminars on a range of topics, and is a prime opportunity for businesses to launch products, exhibit and connect with customers. Bruce, David and Cat will be attending on Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th June in order to showcase our software products and services, and in particular, MARIS, an enterprise software platform designed to manage the complete operations of an international ship registry. MARIS&#39; clients include the UK&#39;s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCI), the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA), Maritime Cook Islands (MCI), the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI) and the Isle of Man Ship Registry. This is the second international shipping conference in PDMS&#39; calender so far this year (with more to come!), following on from the 14th Annual Shippax Conference where we showcased our Compass ferry reservation software. To contact PDMS Maritime ahead of the conference to arrange a meeting, or to find out more about MARIS and our maritime solutions, please&#160;get in touch.Thu, 26 May 2016 10:46:48 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5610
Isle of Man Government press release on successful delivery of new Company Registry system News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/may/isle-of-man-government-press-release-on-successful-delivery-of-new-company-registry-system/
Here&#39;s the official press release from the Isle of Man Government: The Isle of Man Companies Registry has issued the first Certificate of Incorporation to a company that has used the new digital filing service offering businesses the efficiency and cost effectiveness of becoming fully incorporated online. This is the first of a new breed of digital services that build on the new Companies Registry system delivered in September 2015 and will ultimately allow the full lifecycle of company management to be completed digitally. The news has been welcomed by Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK, who said: ‘Supporting economic growth is a core priority of Government. This new service is a good example of how we can support business by making dealing with Government easier while recognising the backdrop of evolving international standards. ‘Modern systems and digital services such as those in Companies Registry will help us ensure we remain internationally competitive, but also remain at the forefront of international compliance. This action is a further step forward, supporting the commitment recently announced on the introduction of a central electronic register of beneficial ownership.’ Economic Development Minister Laurence Skelly MHK commented: ‘The Isle of Man strives to set the bar for international standards when it comes to company registration, whilst also ensuring we are cost effective and efficient in the way we deal with our business community. ‘I am really pleased that we have worked in partnership with our corporate service provider community to create this new service. With this initiative we continue to demonstrate our commitment to supporting the industry through innovation and investment in digital systems.’ John Wilkinson, Director of the Companies Registry, said: ‘This service, initially for companies incorporated under the Companies Act 2006, is the first of many services we will be launching and is a result of teamwork between the Companies Registry staff, Government Technology Services, our supplier PDMS and some of our customers. It is a great example of how Government’s Digital Strategy helps us work with our customers to deliver improved digital services that benefit them as well as Government. We’ll continue this model as we extend our digital services across all company filings and company types.’ Barbara Jolly, Manager of Statutory Services at Equiom (Isle of Man) Limited, commented: ‘We were really pleased to be asked to be involved in the design – not just of this first service but in the long term vision for all corporate services. Being the first to use the system we can say we are really pleased with how it performed. We are looking forward to more services including those that will allow us to directly interact from within our own systems helping to keep our industry competitive.’Tue, 10 May 2016 13:17:58 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5594
Conflict and new technology adoption: Droning on? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/apr/conflict-and-new-technology-adoption-droning-on/
The term drone refers to an unpiloted aircraft or spacecraft – sometimes also referred to as an “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV). This is another innovation boom which is unfolding before our&#160;eyes led not just by big business but countless entrepreneurs and start-ups around the world. It won’t have passed you by (especially if you enjoy watching American espionage dramas such as Homeland) that this is a technology which began within the military - like so many others from GPS, Jet Engines, to the internet. However, as the drone industry increasingly moves away from and grows beyond its military genesis, it’s fascinating to see how it is being adopted by both businesses and the man in the street. Analysts even project that over 1 million drones will be sold around the world this year alone! As with any new technology many are acutely aware of the risks and dangers, as well as the rewards. The drone is likely to become an increasingly common part of the technology landscape in everyday life – like smart phones, social media, AI, 3D printers and wearable health trackers - so let’s take a closer look at the phenomenon. Personal and commercial applications The present boom in drone uptake by consumers is attributable to a number of factors. Drones are at a stage of development where they can be controlled from a smart phone and with relative ease. They are designed to be easily assembled, but perhaps most importantly they are now highly affordable. For consumers the main pull of drones is the use high-quality video and images created from unique vantage points. This makes them extremely good at taking video of sporting activities, and has also meant they are increasingly used in film production and journalism. Businesses have been investing heavily and developing them for a wide range of applications. For example Amazon and other companies have had much publicised attempts to deliver parcels using drones, but it may come as relief to some Amazon customers that this isn’t set to happen in the near future! The diverse applications include agricultural management to monitor crops and livestock, in festivals to monitor crowd size for safety and security, as well as mining and disaster relief. In wildlife protection drones mounted with thermal cameras have even been used to monitor and count animal populations. One of the most heart-warming stories is drone technology being applied in Rwanda to deliver medicine to areas of the county which are difficult to access; it’s expected to save thousands of lives. There are many more applications – and even more to be created. The capabilities that drones provide in both business and the lives of consumers will have a far reaching impact - increasingly so as they approach mainstream adoption. This is another example of a technology which is breaking down barriers, putting power in the hands of individuals and giving access to previously unreachable information on-demand. Misuse and reactions to a new technology Clearly drones can be and indeed are being used for a great deal of good and economic benefit. However fears arise from the unknowns of a new technology, and perhaps more specifically the unknown people who own and operate them. Security threats comes from their potential application as surveillance or spying devices, not to mention delivering explosives and even biological weapons. This technology is cheap, available and extremely portable. Meanwhile, privacy concerns arise from drones fitted with cameras, sensors for number plate and facial recognition, thermal imaging, and the potential ability to access open Wi-Fi networks. These risks have been highlighted with numerous examples of drugs smuggling into prisons, whilst the biggest fear is collisions with planes and proximity to airports, with near misses now well documented. Alarm bells also rung when a drone was flown over the White House and the more infamous example of one landing just in front of the Germany’s Chancellor Merkel during a campaign event. Consequentially law enforcement agencies are investing in methods as diverse (and amusing) as eagles, radio frequency disruption and nets to counteract the threat. At the same time regulators around the world have been struggling to work out how exactly to deal with problem - and many observe - without much success. In the US drones must be now be registered with the government and failure to do so is punishable by up to three years in jail and heavy fines. Meanwhile within the UK it is illegal to fly a drone within 50m of a building, 150m of a built-up area or above 400m, with the US having similar guidelines. Final reflections The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in fact predates World War II, and has gathered pace throughout numerous conflicts around the world. Now they are on the verge of being a commonplace piece of technology, moving beyond the realm of early adopter technology enthusiasts. In fact within PDMS we have our very own drone enthusiast who has captured some spectacular images of our Island. Nick’s advice when it comes to flying is simple: “Never fly a drone indoors” and be careful as they “cause pain when it hits you in the face”!Wed, 27 Apr 2016 09:23:54 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5589
UK MCA contract award to PDMS Maritime to deliver new significant business systems News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/apr/uk-mca-contract-award-to-pdms-maritime-to-deliver-new-significant-business-systems/
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport. Its responsibilities include UK ship registration and seafarer certification and it is widely recognised for its operational and technical ability. This investment in cutting edge digital technology is strategically aligned with the IMO’s recent recommendations to reduce registry administrative burden through electronic record keeping. PDMS Maritime will be delivering a modern platform which will incorporate all the business management processes for a Seafarer Records System (SRS) and Approved Doctors Information System (ADIS), provided as a new single integrated system. The browser-based system will significantly streamline the MCA’s processes to improve efficiency, greatly improve the management of information and business services, and further facilitate the delivery of exemplary levels of customer service. The Seafarer Records area of the integrated system will consolidate all the processes from a number of existing MCA seafarer systems to streamline and modernise the way these business areas operate. It will also provide an array of other new features which will include the provision of online applications and services. The Approved Doctor Information area will provide modern integrated functionality which will allow the MCA to retain the records of doctors approved to conduct medical checks on seafarers and issue relevant medical certificates. Bruce McGregor (pictured right), PDMS Maritime Director who spearheads the MARIS programme, commented: “We are very much looking forward to working closely with such an important maritime organisation as the MCA – applying our technology expertise and partnership approach to help them achieve their strategic business objectives.” Bruce further added, “This is an exciting project for our MARIS team who will also be able to bring real benefits resulting from our existing experiences.” PDMS Maritime’s new client, the MCA, marks another success for PDMS team. This is the second new MARIS related contract award this year alone - after PDMS Maritime also recently announced a new contract for MARIS with the Maritime Cook Islands (MCI). PDMS Maritime is now the leading global supplier of ship registry software with other clients including: the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA); the Isle of Man Ship Registry; and the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI).Mon, 18 Apr 2016 10:14:56 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5572
How time flies Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/apr/how-time-flies/
This month marks my 15 year anniversary at PDMS – a milestone which led me to reflect on just how much has changed, both in PDMS and the marketing profession, since I embarked on my career as a technology marketer in a brave new digital world. I joined PDMS early in 2001, when Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings were the most popular movies. In music, Shaggy had the bestselling single of the year with “It wasn’t me&quot;, closely followed by Bob the Builder! As bad as the year may have been for music lovers, it paled into insignificance when compared to the turmoil in the technology sector. This was the year the over-inflated dot.com bubble burst – where the hype, which took precedence over the more mundane practicalities of business plans, cash flows and profits, got a reality check. However, the team at PDMS were more level-headed, and right from the start recognised the long-term potential that the Internet offered to drive down cost, open up new markets and improve the customer experience – by doing “commerce” better, rather than “e-commerce” somehow being completely separate from any other channel. So while the stock market crash of 2000-2002 caused the loss of $5 trillion in the market value of companies and the liquidation of thousands of companies around the world, PDMS not only weathered the storm, but actually achieved year on year growth during the same period. Back then, PDMS was a much smaller company - around 23 employees - but even then we were ‘punching above our weight’ - beating some much larger competitors to win some prestigious contracts. In fact, many of the clients we were working for in the early ‘noughties’, including Black &amp;amp; Decker and the NHS, we are still working with today! We were helping organisations save substantial amounts of time and money by moving systems online – for example we saved the NHS millions by replacing pharmaceutical catalogues, which were distributed to hospitals every month on CD-ROM, with an online equivalent. Back in the day I was a marketing ‘team’ of one and the world of marketing looked very different to the one I operate in today. A typical week in marketing comprised of trade shows, advertising, press releases and pushing messages out about our software development services. This is what is now referred to as ‘outbound’ marketing – marketing that interrupts the customer, talking at them. Looking back with those nostalgic rose-tinted glasses – it may seem that the world of marketing was a much simpler place without the complexities of today’s multiple channels and constant noise – no Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Analytics. In many ways it was simpler, but it was also less effective and less transparent. Remember when you wanted to go on holiday pre-internet? You had two options. You either looked at a glossy wide angle lensed photo and a paragraph of blurb before walking into the Travel Agents and parting with your hard earned cash or, alternatively, you read a line of text on TV (remember Teletext?) and made a phone call. Both required a leap of faith into the unknown – sometimes you’d get lucky with a good hotel and resort and other times you wouldn’t. Today, I won’t book anything until I’ve read nearly every review on Trip Advisor and compared the price on multiple booking sites which automatically appear on the Trip Advisor review page. This can be an exhausting task but I’m in control – I’m seeking out the information I need to make an informed decision. This demonstrates the shift to “inbound marketing” – where communication is interactive and two ways, customers come to you via search engines, referrals and social media – and marketers provide value. Today it’s all about multi-channel engagement and generating content. With a wealth of data and analytical tools readily available, it is also much easier to evaluate whether your marketing is cost effective. The biggest changes, both for PDMS and the marketing profession as a whole, have undoubtedly taken place in the last 10 years. We relocated from Castletown to larger offices in Douglas and in 2013 we celebrated 20 years in business, followed by our first major corporate acquisition in 2014 - not to mention that we now have our own ‘bean to cup’ coffee machine! As a marketer, along with the rest of my profession, I’ve had to develop new skills with the explosion in social media and new technology platforms. The ‘mobile’ era too, has had a huge impact with marketing professionals having to create content for a myriad of mobile devices and having to learn how to connect with customers in real time. Fast forward to 2016 and I’m working with a great marketing team supporting a much bigger PDMS Group, which has a portfolio of services and products spanning sectors including transport, education, government and financial and professional services. We have offices in the Isle of Man and Glasgow, nearly 70 employees and we work with clients in over 10 different countries. Over the last 15 years technology trends have come and gone – we’ve had virtualisation, thin client, thick client, cloud computing, the rise and rise of mobile and now big data and the internet of things. The rapid pace of change is what has always appealed to me – as a technology marketer, life is never dull! However, despite all of these changes, both within PDMS and in the marketing profession in general, one thing remains constant. It’s not the technology or the channel to market that matters, it’s the people. Understanding people and how we can best work with them – using technology to help them achieve their goals – will always be a constant.Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:11:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5570
PDMS makes pledge to uphold the best in modern business practices News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/apr/pdms-makes-pledge-to-uphold-the-best-in-modern-business-practices/
PDMS has signed up to the Scottish Business Pledge, a voluntary scheme which promotes principles of fairness, equality, opportunity and innovation. The Scottish Business Pledge upholds the best in effective and ethical business practices and recognises efforts made to build organisations which contribute to Scotland’s future. Organisations which make the pledge must pay the Living Wage, meet two further criteria and have a longer term commitment to the seven other components. These criteria include: Paying the Living Wage Not using zero hours contacts Supporting progressive workforce engagement Investing in youth Making progress on diversity and gender balance Committing to an innovation programme Pursing internal business opportunities Playing an active role in the community Committing to prompt payment We’re proud to say we were able to meet all of the above criteria. Scotland based Business Development Manager, Richard Graham said, “Ever since we opened an office in Scotland, we have been fully committed to creating a working environment where our clients, staff and suppliers can flourish. Signing up to the Scottish Business Pledge was an easy choice and is something we are committed to for the long term.” Other organisations which have made the pledge include Barclays, The University of Edinburgh, Microsoft and GSK, among numerous others. Click here to find out more about our work in the community.Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:13:59 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5559
PDMS Employed sponsors Local Enterprise Partnership Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/mar/pdms-employed-sponsors-local-enterprise-partnership-conference/
It was a great opportunity for us to engage with all 39 LEPs in England and Wales, hear about their plans for the coming year, and join in their celebration of what has been another successful year. At the conference it was announced that a total of &#163;5bn of private sector leverage has been secured by LEPs to date. They have created 115,000 new jobs, trained 78,000 learners, created 71,000 new businesses, supported 72,000 businesses, built 16,000 new homes, and spent &#163;945m on infrastructure. This success brought with it plenty of commendation from none other than the Prime Minister in a letter addressed to the conference and in person from James Wharton MP and the Secretary of State, Greg Clark. “More to be done” The conference was also a reminder that there is plenty of work still to do. This was driven home in a note from the Prime Minister who said, “I believe that local business leaders and local authorities must work together to make the best decisions for their area…Now is the time for Local Enterprise Partnerships to get involved in devolution deals and tell us what you can do to drive growth.” These comments were backed up by Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director General, who mentioned that the UK has been one of the most centralised governments in Western Europe but the new devolution has to be utilised by business to unlock prosperity and growth. Why were PDMS there? We have a keen interest in the development of devolution through LEPs because we have been supplying local government with our software expertise for many years. However, this interest has increased in recent years due to the work we’re doing with PDMS Employed – our employability platform. This work is enabling local regions to join up their employability and skills services while fostering collaboration between all stakeholders involved in the economic development of the region. If you are part of a LEP and would like to find out more about how we’re doing this, please get in touch.Tue, 29 Mar 2016 09:32:52 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5551
Extending your digital ‘shelf-life’ Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/mar/extending-your-digital-shelf-life/
A client recently asked, “If we invest in redesigning our website now, how long can we expect it to stay fresh?” – or words to that effect. A great question, and one that led me to think a little deeper after my initial (and probably unhelpful) answer to the client: “Well, it&#160;depends…” Just like physical products, websites, systems and apps are created (and changed) for many different reasons – and the underlying ‘why?’ is key to determining a digital product’s ‘best-before date’. While ‘sustainable design’ is a more frequently cited concept in architecture and product design, I can’t see any reason why, approached in the right way, it can’t be applied in the digital world too. One of the most common reasons for a design refresh that may be cited by clients is aesthetics. In this scenario, they may say things like, “We really need our website to live and breathe our brand”, “Our homepage looks a bit dated,” or even, “We want it to be sexier, you know, like Apple.” Redesigning for aesthetic reasons can be valid, impressive even (the designer Philippe Starck famously said, “My juicer is not meant to squeeze lemons, it is meant to start conversations”), however as the web industry has matured from the early days of the dotcom boom, there is still a pitfall in the digital world that cosmetic updates such as moody photography, eye-catching animation or tasteful colour-washing can be presented as solutions to problems that either don’t exist, have been overlooked, or have not been fully understood. On his blog, web designer Cameron Moll calls this the ‘re-design vs re-align’ problem. “The desire to redesign is aesthetic-driven, while the desire to realign is purpose-driven.” A purpose-driven reason for design change can genuinely give your website, app or system an extended shelf-life by aligning customer needs with business objectives and lasting way beyond the latest trend – provided the organisation can identify the purpose, and accept that the designer who can single-handedly second guess a business’ objectives is a rare one! Perhaps the strategy of your company or organisation has changed, new products have been introduced, or market trends have shifted. Targeted research with even a small number of users – ideally customers, or other people outside of the organisation - can help record any significant problems, and any correlation between business goals and user expectation ‘fails’ can be identified. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. A (somewhat idealised) real-world example might be: “We want to increase online bookings by 10% this year, but the numbers are actually going down.” - a clear business goal. While an example of user testing feedback might be, “After I finish entering my credit card details on the booking screen, the screen goes to a blank page and I don’t have any way of knowing if my payment was accepted or not.” Making the decision to resolve issues raised by user feedback should be an easy one, but it is surprising how many high-profile organisations lack empathy. Even Apple, once the arbiters of good design, have come under fire recently for moving away from their longstanding user-centred design approach. Plans to remove the ubiquitous headphone jack (which has been around in one form or other since the mid 19th century) from the iPhone7 are surely the opposite of ‘sustainable’. Ex-Apple employee and design guru Don Norman even goes as far as to say ‘Apple is destroying good design’ with its latest product releases and iOs, which break many of the established rules of human computer interaction. Keeping up with technology itself is the one final ‘freshness factor’ in the longevity of a website. Google’s current ‘search console’ tools for web developers makes it pretty clear that mobile optimisation, structured data and minimised page load times (aka fast-loading websites) are going to be significant factors that affect page ranking in the months ahead. Unlike the design of physical products, designing for the digital world may be best done in careful, iterative, purposeful ‘re-alignments’, in step with technology changes that are out of the designer’s control. Put into business terms - It may be better to spend a little, often, to keep your online premises clean and tidy. Think of design as an ongoing process, not a one-off job. In addition to a ‘designer’, the most successful redesigns (or should that be ‘re-aligns’) tend to involve a number of appropriate specialists on both supplier and client sides - marketing strategists, information architects, copywriters, visual designers, usability analysts, web developers, photographers, eCommerce consultants, infrastructure technicians and project managers can all contribute to the quality and longevity of a ‘user experience’. All of which makes it easier for me to justify and elaborate on my answer, ‘Well, it depends…’ by adding simply, ‘Why do you want to re-design?’Mon, 14 Mar 2016 15:04:50 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5498
In-house design team rebuilds PDMS&#39; website for new look and improved user experience News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/mar/in-house-design-team-rebuilds-pdms-website-for-new-look-and-improved-user-experience/
A core – and uncommon - strength of PDMS is our in-house Digital Design team, led by Design Manager, Jim Rawson. This invaluable resource not only provides PDMS with the ability to manage large internal website projects, but to deliver this service for our extensive portfolio of clients, creating a polished, great looking finish to all of their final products. In keeping with recent technological and SEO updates, a significant aspect of this project was developing the website to be mobile responsive, providing a better experience for people accessing the website through mobiles or tablets. Changes last year in the way in which Google ranks websites in searches make it harder for non-mobile friendly websites to appear highly in search results, making this a priority for the relaunch. PDMS.com has also been given a fresh new look and layout. Much of the content has been refreshed and the people pages have been bolstered with new profiles and an enjoyable session retaking photographs with Steve Woodley! (There’s some fantastic outtake shots for the Christmas party!) The project also marked an upgrade to Umbraco 7, the latest iteration of the content management system (CMS) used to build the website. This has provided numerous new features, including increased flexibility in the page design, as well as greater ease managing the website going forwards. We’re really pleased with the finished product of all of the hard work from all those involved and we hope that you like the new site too! Think your site needs a bit of a facelift and refresh? Get in touch with our Digital Team Manager, Jim Rawson&#160;to find out what we can do for you to fit your needs and budget.Mon, 07 Mar 2016 16:42:54 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5490
Maritime Cook Islands Limited further enhance their continued registry growth with MARIS ship registry Platform News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/mar/maritime-cook-islands-limited-further-enhance-their-continued-registry-growth-with-maris-ship-registry-platform/
MARIS will replace MCI&#39;s existing legacy systems to provide the registry with a new, modern and complete enterprise system which covers all the key aspects of their business including; registry, survey, seafarers and service operations. The platform will also help the MCI to prepare for the IMO&#39;s mandatory audit scheme (IMSAS). From January 2016, the IMO will conduct audits in all its member states to determine the extent to which they give full and complete effect to their obligations under SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, Load Lines (LL), Tonnage and COLREG. The picturesque Cook Islands, consisting of 15 Islands in the Pacific Ocean, hosts a fast-growing and commercially driven International Ship Registry. In the 12 months to September 2015, the registry achieved an impressive 17% growth rate. Their strategic investment in MARIS - a modern, flexible and powerful enterprise platform - will enable the registry to effectively deliver its future planned growth. After evaluating options, MCI awarded the contract to the PDMS Maritime team based on; the flexibility and strength of their tried and tested MARIS platform, their knowledge of ship registry operations gained from over 12 years&#39; experience, and the underlying depth of business support provided by a 75 person strong technology company. Bruce McGregor, PDMS Maritime Director who spearheads the MARIS programme, commented; &quot;We are delighted that another ship registry has chosen our MARIS platform to help them meet their wide ranging regulatory obligations, drive productivity improvements and further enhance their customer service&quot;. Bruce also added, &quot;Both ourselves and the MCI believe in a long-term and collaborative partnership approach and we&#39;ve already established a great working relationship with the forward thinking team at MCI&quot;. Adding to Bruce&#39;s comments, MCI&#39;s CEO, Glenn Armstrong (pictured right) stated &quot;We are very impressed with the professionalism of the PDMS team. They know what they are doing, they do what they say they will do. At this early testing phase, our whole team are excited by the control that MARCI will deliver to Fleet Managers, ensuring that all ships that fly the Cook Islands flag are in compliance with the relevant international requirements.&quot; This new contract with the MCA continues to cement PDMS Maritime&#39;s existing position as a leading supplier of Ship Registry systems with other MARIS clients including; Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA), the Isle of Man Ship Registry and the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI). For more information about MARIS, please visit our PDMS Maritime website.Mon, 07 Mar 2016 10:53:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5488
The Isle of Man Working Closer with Glasgow News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/mar/the-isle-of-man-working-closer-with-glasgow/
PDMS has offices in both the Isle of Man and Glasgow and is pleased to be supporting an Isle of Man Government event to help develop better business relations between the two regions. The Isle of Man Government&#39;s Department of Economic Development is hosting the breakfast event on the 9th March at 29 Glasgow. The event will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Isle of Man followed by a networking opportunity. PDMS&#39; Chris Gledhill will be giving a brief presentation and the event is also being supported by SMP Partners. If you are interested in coming along, please get in touch with joanne.pontee@pdms.com for more information.Tue, 01 Mar 2016 12:31:41 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5479
PDMS partner with Manx Telecom to launch Cloud Compute on UK Government G-Cloud News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/feb/pdms-partner-with-manx-telecom-to-launch-cloud-compute-on-uk-government-g-cloud/
Manx Telecom’s Cloud Compute platform is a fully managed, dual data centre, infrastructure-as-a-service solution, offering clients enterprise networking, servers, and storage. It delivers scalable, on-demand computing services, faster, cheaper and more flexibly than designing and deploying traditional dedicated hardware based solutions. It can also be purchased in a number of very flexible ways to match a particular client’s specific project and procurement needs. IT decision makers today are continually faced with escalating data centre infrastructure and administrative costs from hardware acquisition, management, power and cooling to real estate and disaster recovery. Manx Telecom’s Cloud Compute platform, powered by VMware and Cisco USC, is designed to help customers reduce these costs by turning proven industry-standard hardware into hardware-agnostic enterprise-class virtual infrastructure.&#160;The suite is designed to allow entire server, storage and network farms to be managed as a shared utility and to be securely and dynamically allocated to different clients, business units or projects. Manx Telecom and PDMS are committed to increasing the delivery of Isle of Man Plc services internationally. Cloud compute is available from the UK Government’s Digital Marketplace (www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk) which enables public sector organisations to quickly and easily access and contract a range of digital services, including cloud technology, via its G-Cloud framework. At the heart of this solution are Manx Telecom’s two Tier 3 designed data centres providing the ideal secure base for delivery of services to the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace. PDMS is a G-Cloud 7 approved supplier – G-Cloud 7 being the latest generation of the framework which was only launched in November 2015. Chris Gledhill, Managing Director of PDMS, commented: “This partnership is a great example of two local technology companies joining forces to provide cloud solutions for export – in this case to the wider UK public sector which is one of the most advanced consumers of IT infrastructure services in the world. PDMS is already working with a number of clients via the G-Cloud which offers a much simpler and cost effective way for the public sector to procure cloud services through an Amazon like store. Manx Telecom’s Cloud Compute service is a welcome addition to our range of G-Cloud solutions and offers central and local government access to state of the art, enterprise class, virtual hardware.” Stephen Kane, Head of Data Centre and Managed Services at Manx Telecom, added: “We are delighted to partner with PDMS to jointly extend the reach and sale of our Cloud Compute services into the UK Public Sector. Having seen increasing client demand for our data centre and cloud services we continue to develop our range of dedicated, shared or hybrid managed cloud platforms, and disaster recovery solutions. The latest great news for our data centre business unit is the completion of the second phase of our Tier 3 designed Greenhill Data Centre. The Digital Marketplace G-Cloud provides a great channel for us to quickly access new public sector clients and to explain the many unique opportunities we offer, both as the Isle of Man’s primary telecommunications provider, and as a supplier of international connectivity and data centre solutions. We can, of course, only support such highly demanding customers by investing in the correct infrastructure, services and people. Having already committed capital in excess of &#163;25 million we are now the only provider on the Island which owns and operates two diverse Tier 3 designed data centres with resilient high capacity fibre networks, connecting them and businesses around the Island, globally.” For more information about G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace, click here.Mon, 29 Feb 2016 09:46:16 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5473
PDMS achieve LQRA Environmental Accreditation 14001 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/mar/pdms-achieve-lqra-environmental-accreditation-14001/
ISO 14001 is an internationally recognized standard and requires an organization to identify and control the environmental impact of its activities and work towards continually improving its environmental performance. The 14001 certification is the culmination of a 12 month project for PDMS which has involved analyzing and monitoring the company&#39;s environmental impact, implementing an environmental management system and setting a number of targets and objectives. PDMS have introduced a number of new &#39;green&#39; initiatives including; stepping up their recycling efforts, reducing energy consumption and minimizing the usage of materials. Neal Kelly, Infrastructure and Facilities Manager at PDMS, commented &quot;We have had an ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact for some time and we are delighted to have received formal recognition for our efforts in the form of 14001 certification.&quot; He continued, &quot;We have significantly boosted our green credentials across every aspect of the business from investing in improved online conferencing facilities to help reduce travel, particularly between our head office and the London office, right through to composting our organic waste&quot;. PDMS clients are increasingly aware of the needs for improved environmental standards. They can now be confident that PDMS not only complies with environmental best practices and policies, but is also constantly striving for improved performance, thanks to documented processes and procedures. PDMS already holds the quality standard ISO 9001 and the security standard ISO 27001 and has integrated ISO 14001 into its existing, comprehensive quality management system.Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:45:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5375
PDMS launches Isle of Man Government Company Registry System News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/sep/pdms-launches-isle-of-man-government-company-registry-system/
Here&#39;s the official notification from the Isle of Man Government: The Isle of Man Companies Registry will be launching a replacement public viewing system from 9am on Tuesday 22 September in line with the Isle of Man Government&#39;s Digital Strategy, which aims to provide the public with better, more efficient services. The new system will provide the public with more reliable and faster access to the information that is currently available, such as company name and registration number, the registered office address and the date of incorporation. For a small fee registered users are also able to see company documents such as prospectuses and accounts. Developing the new system is an important step towards providing a new modern platform upon which more services will be developed. John Wilkinson, Director of the Central Registry, commented: &quot;The launch comes after months of hard work and will mean a better, faster search service for clients as well as providing the potential to offer more services online in the future, such as the digital submission of company documents and annual returns. I would like to express my thanks to our partners, Government Technology Services and PDMS, for the work and effort they have put into delivering this important project.&quot;Mon, 01 Feb 2016 13:11:44 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5360
#Throwback2015: The year in review Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/dec/throwback2015-the-year-in-review/
We thought we would take this opportunity to look back on a busy but exciting year at PDMS. The now distant 2014 was a particularly momentous year for the company, with the growth of our business in Glasgow via the acquisition of certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited. In 2015 we focused on raising the profile of our ferry reservation and ticketing solution, Compass, and of course, continuing to deliver a wide range of projects from mobile apps through to major enterprise systems. So here goes … January In January we hit the ground running, with David Stickland announcing Compass will be an official exhibitor at the Thirteenth Shippax Ferry Shipping Conference in April, taking place on board P &amp;amp; O&#39;s Pride of Rotterdam. We also secured supplier status on the latest version of the UK Government&#39;s ICT procurement programme, G-Cloud 6. G-Cloud was launched as an initiative to redefine the way the UK public sector procures and operates ICT and PDMS has a range of solutions and services available through it. Chris Gledhill (Managing Director) and David Stickland (Sales Director) had an interesting visit to the House of Commons, to listen to an insightful speech by the Principal of the University of the West of Scotland. February February was a productive month for our Compass team, with the launch of new product branding and a great new&#160;mobile-friendly website&#160;designed and developed in-house. We also gained a new international client - Cat Cocos, a ferry operator in the Seychelles. Our investment in Glasgow was recognised with a&#160;visit from Fergus Ewing MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism. At this breakfast event we were also delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). PDMS and UWS are working closely with the University&#39;s Information Services team on a number of software projects and PDMS is providing ICT students with work placements and graduate apprenticeships in Scotland. David and Derek Rae (Operations Director, Scotland) headed off to Amsterdam to attend the Integrated Systems Europe event to find out more about latest technology developments in payment and ticketing. March In March we visited Manchester to progress a great new project with the New Economy to help promote career opportunities in the textile industry. Based on our employability and skills platform (PDMS Employed), the new portal acts as a gateway for driving participation into textile training programmes, facilitating recruitment drives and supporting continuous professional development. The PDMS marketing team launched our&#160;new video&#160;in March to help showcase our Compass solution. Filmed at various locations in Scotland, including Shetland and Orkney, this short video features a number of our ferry customers. April PDMS has been a technology partner with the Police National Legal Database (PNLD) since 2005 and in April PDMS launched the &#39;Ask the Police Scotland&#39; App - which gives people in Scotland instant answers to questions on a wide range of police related issues.&#160;The free app aims to help save the Police Service valuable time and resources by reducing the amount of non-emergency calls taken through the police contact centres. Meanwhile, David Stickland and Derek Rae, showcased Compass at Shippax 2015 in Rotterdam - one of the ferry industry&#39;s largest events. We also signed up another new client - the Bahamas Ferries extending the international reach of our customer base. We were also delighted when the Southern Nomads, our sponsored rugby team, lifted the 2015 Cheshire Bowl! May We were really pleased to hear that the &#39;Ask the Police Scotland&#39; app shad been shortlisted in the&#160;ScotlandIS DigiTech Awards 2015&#160;for the Best in Public Sector Service/Product category. Meanwhile, May continued to be an active month for the Compass team - following attendance at Shippax in Rotterdam, David Stickland and Derek Rae continued to&#160;make waves (sorry, couldn&#39;t resist!) at the 3rd Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum in Greece. Later in the month a team from PDMS competed in the Isle of Man&#39;s&#160;Race the Sun&#160;charity event - completing 10 relayed sections over the 100 mile circumference of the beautiful Isle of Man. June June was a particularly busy month for employed.im, our careers and employability portal for the Isle of Man - with the team getting involved with a number of Career Days and workshops in the Isle of Man&#39;s secondary schools. With so much activity, we were delighted when we broke through the milestone of 4,000 active individual members! We put on our glad rags and had a terrific time attending both the Digitech Awards in Edinburgh and the Isle of Man Chambers of Commerce&#39;s 60th&#160;Anniversary Dinner with Lord Digby Jones. July We made a new senior appointment this month, with the arrival of Peter Quayle in the newly created role of&#160;Chief Operating Officer (COO). Peter is an enthusiastic and highly knowledgeable IT professional and he is tasked with leading and coordinating the operations of PDMS Isle of Man, as well as contributing to the technical and commercial strategy for the PDMS Group. Meanwhile PDMS&#39; Managing Director, Chris Gledhill, announced a partnership between employed.im and Manx Telecom&#39;s manx.net (one of the Isle of Man&#39;s most popular websites) to provide support for a&#160;jobs feed. August A typically quiet month - the quiet before the storm that is - as we were busy making preparations for an incredibly busy September with events in London, Canada, Monaco and Cyprus. We were delighted to win the Isle of Man Department of Education&#39;s contract to deliver work experience services to schools supported by the employed.im portal. We were also pleased to welcome 3 new members to our Isle of Man team - Nick Collins to the Digital Design Team, Matt Brewster to the Support Team and Hannah Wild to Marketing, and 2 new recruits in Glasgow - Fiona Anderson and Richard Graham. September During September our maritime teams travelled the world to showcase our various solutions, including Maris our ship registry system. As part of the Isle of Man Maritime Group, PDMS helped to organise an invitation only evening reception during London International Shipping Week at the historic Trinity House. Themed &#39;Nautical by Nature&#39;, the event showcased the Isle of Man as a maritime centre of excellence to an international audience of maritime movers and shakers. Bruce McGregor (Head of PDMS Maritime) and Catriona Watt from our Maris team, later headed out to the Maritime Cyprus Conference before moving onto the prestigious Monaco Yacht show! Meanwhile David and Derek travelled to Vancouver for the Canadian Ferry Operators Association Conference (CFOA) - to showcase how increasing revenue with can be achieved through Online Reservations, Ticketing and Mobile Apps. Back in the Isle of Man, our development teams were busy launching the new&#160;Companies Registry System. October More air miles for David and Derek, as they headed out once more, this time to Copenhagen, for Interferry&#39;s 40th Annual Conference - showcasing our Ferry Reservation technology to industry leaders from around the globe. We were delighted to welcome another new client for our Maris software - Maritime Cook Islands. We also signed up another new Compass client - this time a little closer to home - Scoot Ferries in the&#160;Isle of Wight. November With the end of the year fast approaching, we were delighted to be shortlisted in numerous categories at the&#160;Isle of Man Newspaper&#39;s Awards for Excellence. The Compass team were shortlisted for reinvigorating the product through a range of marketing and business development activities, which has seen us double our client base since the start of the year. Meanwhile the Isle of Man Maritime Group was shortlisted in for its activities and team work promoting the Isle of Man at London International Shipping Week, whilst Nick Collins our new designer was shortlisted for Young Achiever of the year. We also worked with PNLD to launch a new Motoring and the Law App - a project supported by the UK&#39;s Cabinet Office an which was partially funded by the UK&#39;s Home Office. December After successfully winning the Department of Education&#39;s contract to deliver work experience services to schools, we were delighted to welcome Lorna Trevethan who will be co-ordinating the program for employed.im. G-Cloud 7 was also released and, once again,&#160;PDMS is an approved GCloud supplier, increasing the range of services we offer to the public sector throughout the UK.Fri, 29 Jan 2016 17:11:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5358
Powerful tech trends in 2016 – and what they really mean Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2016/jan/powerful-tech-trends-in-2016-and-what-they-really-mean/
Whilst hoverboards were one of the must have Christmas gifts of 2015, they didn&#39;t quite live up to those envisaged by the writers of&#160;Back to the Future, however we did see countless other technical innovations. And yet as we look to what 2016 may bring, in the infamous words of Shakespeare, &quot;The best is yet to come&quot;. 1. Social Media Whilst &#39;social media fatigue&#39; is a real thing with people becoming both overwhelmed and burnt out by the sheer volume of its noise, it would be negligent to ignore it for its continuing role changing the internet. It highlights a shift in the way social media and the internet are used: the internet more than ever is becoming a global ecosystem with fewer and fewer barriers between shopping, social networks, entertainment and sources of information. Notably, people are increasingly bypassing Google for search, going direct to the likes of YouTube, Pinterest and Amazon. Consequently, social media is increasingly powerful in all aspects of life - personal, business and political. Just think back the role Twitter and YouTube played in the Arab Spring or the solidarity shown through &#39;#Je suis Charlie&#39;; but also consider ISIS&#39; use of social media. The rapid growth of mobile internet has only accentuated the changes. 2. Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable technology Many have partaken in the IoT hype train, but business has struggled to create anything of real use. Until now. 2015 saw the IoT start in earnest, but 2016 is when many predict products will hit the mainstream. Big money companies such as Google, IBM and Cisco are investing heavily and viable products are beginning to emerge in a range of industries, including retail, healthcare and utilities. This is a space worth watching. An example for in retail is the Amazon Dash Button, a small device with one button that when pressed, instantly orders the product it&#39;s programmed to order. It is beginning to powerfully disrupt the retail industry for the ease with which things can be purchased. Pretty cool, right? However . . . More significant is the potential in the health industry, through wearable technology which monitors sleep, heart rate, calories burned, blood glucose levels, steps taken and stairs climbed, to revolutionise the way our health is monitored- part of a wider push towards personalised healthcare. Sensor and battery technology is enabling this, whilst consumers have overcome their reluctance to wear computers on their bodies - largely thanks to Apple. Many of those around you right now will probably be wearing some variation of a Fitbit. But the reality is that this technology is still in its infancy - much like the first generation MP3 players. The next big thing will be for these devises to be directly connected to the Internet rather than through a third-party mobile device. Look out for the Internet of Things becoming the Internet of Everything. 3. AI Whilst the possibilities for technology are fascinating, AI (by that I mean Artificial Intelligence, not Donald Trump) has been subject to much dread in pop culture - think I, Robot, Terminator and the Matrix - and among many commentators too. Elon Musk, the billionaire business and tech genius behind Tesla, has even suggested it&#39;s &quot;our biggest existential threat&quot; and invested in an organisation to monitor it! AI attempts to mimic human beings, specifically our ability to learn and make decisions, so as human and machine are indistinguishable. Researchers even argue that Alan Turing&#39;s infamous test - whether a person can tell the difference between a human and machine in conversation - has already been passed. That&#39;s all well and good, but what does AIreallymean in 2016 and how will it affect us? The technology is being applied in self-driving cars, facial and voice recognition, personalised online advertising and shopping experiences, and is also been extensively used in Windows&#39; Cortana and iOS&#39;s Siri and Google&#39;s search engine technology. Notably, China&#39;s Government has welcomed AI with open arms, viewing it as the way to maintain manufacturing competitiveness as workers&#39; wages rise. Machines which traditionally perform precise but simple, repetitive tasks are increasingly able to learn and share between each other. Automation has already replaced many people&#39;s jobs whilst also creating new ones. The technology is rapidly improving. Watch this space in 2016. 4. Driverless cars The technology for driver-less cars made significant advances in 2015, propelled by Google, Apply, Uber and China&#39;s Baidu. Newer cars already extensively rely on computer technology (as the Volkswagen scandal recently highlighted) and self-parking cars are becoming less uncommon. My Grandad, a former mechanic, recently lamented that mechanics don&#39;t actually fix anything anymore, they diagnose problems using a computer and replace a broken part. Unmanned vehicles in the transportation industry and reductions in road accidents could be highly beneficial - and disruptive - to people and business. And driverless cars may happen sooner then we think. A recent software update for Tesla&#39;s Model S electric cars gave it self-driving capabilities. Whilst the tech is regarded as near ready, it will be a few years before it becomes mainstream. Regulation may need to play catch-up, but perhaps more importantly people will have to trust the technology. Many fear the risk of accidents from software bugs and hacking, as well as a loss of skills and pleasure of driving. Changing People This is a mere snapshot of what&#39;s happening in the world of technology and many of these advances are interlinked, - with Cloud Computing a critical enabling factor in them all. Whilst technology&#39;s influence on science, politics and industry is captivating, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of technological change is the way it&#39;s changing people and society - not just how we live, but our assumptions and values. The generation coming of age right now, born between 1995 and 2009 - Generation Z - are unlike any other before them. Having grown up in a globalised world with social media and the internet, Generation Z have their eyes wide open; they&#39;ve also been influenced by factors including global terrorism, the financial crash and climate change. Consequently they&#39;re characterised as being entrepreneurial and progressive. They think in a completely different way to Generation Y&#39;s Millennials and have even less in common with Generation X&#39;s baby boomers. However, it&#39;s particularly interesting to note that many of the significant technology trends I&#39;ve mentioned have been met with degrees of fear and scepticism (I&#39;ve not even touched on privacy issues and cybercrime!): But progress stops for no one. It is a considered truth that it&#39;s a particularly enthralling time be alive, even more so if you&#39;re interested in technology.&#160;Bring it 2016.Fri, 29 Jan 2016 17:03:26 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5357
Engineering Matters Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/dec/engineering-matters/
Unusually for me, and I would guess unusual for an article, I&#39;m going to start by using a swear word! Are you ready?&#160;&quot;Engineer&quot;, there, I&#39;ve said it. Not that long ago, you may as well have been swearing when you told somebody that you were an Engineer, but today however, it seems a very much a sought after title. For example, there are Photocopier Engineers, Vending Machine Engineers, Forestry Engineers, Mineral Engineers and Domestic Engineers! So it would now seem that society has at long last accepted the term Engineer as a respectable profession. As much as I could talk about this, and believe me I can, this is not the purpose of this article. When I first came across the term &#39;Software Engineer&#39; I must admit to feeling a little bit disgruntled because at the time software developers/ engineers suffered from the stereotypical image of some spotty youth, sat in a darkened room in front of a games console and a very early model PC, wearing nothing but boxers and a Tee Shirt, whilst existing off a diet of Pot Noodles, Cola and Crisps. Whereas I, a time-served Mechanical Engineer had undertaken a five year apprenticeship, attended day release, two nights and Saturday morning at college for all five years before being able to use the title Engineer without the word Apprentice preceding it. Moving the clock forward a number of years, it would seem that things have changed and are in-fact still changing. Working as I do in the world of software, I still very much consider myself to be a Mechanical Engineer first and foremost, but still working with the concept that as a team of professionals we turn people&#39;s ideas and vision into something tangible and real. Whilst the software we write isn&#39;t something which can be held or touched, as end users we still interact with it and for me that is one constant that exists between mechanical and software engineering. The other constant is that whatever we deliver will in some shape or form, no matter how small bring about change, improvement in productivity and so release much need efficiencies to the business and/ or end user. Whilst I can&#39;t say with any degree of certainty that there aren&#39;t people sat in darkened rooms wearing &#39;leisure wear&#39; anymore, I can say with a degree of certainty that Software Engineers are not only qualified to an ever exacting level, but are gaining the benefits of an Industry that is rapidly maturing. Having worked on everything from Steam Engines&#160;to Aircraft; as an Engineer, I had many 100&#39;s of years, if not 1,000&#39;s of years of prior learning and mistakes to draw upon. Not only were we using theories developed by Pythagoras, Archimedes and Newton, but we were also using scales and charts developed and proven by the Victorians, along with more modern theories and calculations developed for new evolving materials and industries. As a consequence benefiting from centuries of accrued wisdom, experience and theory but more importantly, lessons learned from mistakes made. In comparison, compared to Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering is a relatively young discipline, still very much in the throes of gathering all of this accrued experience and wisdom, but it is doing so at a much faster pace than traditional industries did and so it is growing up/ evolving at a much faster pace than any industry has done before. One other constant between mechanical engineering and software engineering is the end user. When something is made to be used such as a washing machine, it is generally very easy to spot why it isn&#39;t working as it should, so there is a simple cause and effect route to problem solving. Is it plugged in? Is the water turned on? Whereas systems which work over the internet on an ever increasing range of devices, using different operating systems and browsers, all of which can be personalised, makes problem solving significantly more difficult. For most of the time, you don&#39;t have direct access to the end user and you can&#39;t simply send an engineer round as you can with a washing machine. Yet as an end user we have the expectation that whatever we are using must work, even (especially) if it has been downloaded for free, or we&#39;ve paid the whopping sum of 99 pence for it. Which is where the two branches of engineering differ, when did you ever get anything that has been manufactured, which brings benefit to you for nothing? Other than marketing giveaways, I doubt ever, so why, as consumers do we have the perception that Software should be cheap or free? Is it because we can&#39;t see or touch it? In order to work as we expect it to, software (especially when it comes to complex business systems) needs to be built on sound engineering practices, design and approaches and not just cobbled together. I like the example provided by our Technical Director Mike Bromwich -&quot;In most engineering disciplines, small-scale endeavours can be achieved without adhering to formal process and standards. A garden shed can be constructed from inspiration, materials and labour - but to build a tower block these need to be supplemented by disciplines such as surveying, architecture, and structural engineering. As the reach of IT extends, and the scale and complexity of the underlying software multiplies, the parallels are clear: strategic importance mandates a strategic approach. Globalisation requires interoperability - and interoperability requires standards. Growth requires responsiveness - and responsiveness requires flexibility. To meet these requirements successfully software development demands an approach which embraces good engineering practice at its core.&quot; So as an &quot;old school&quot; engineer I&#39;m delighted to be working in a sector which combines the passion for solving problems, with the ability to transform the way we work, in an ever changing world and in a manner that I can both understand and relate to.Fri, 29 Jan 2016 16:48:39 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5352
UWS highlight importance of technology at House of Commons Event News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jan/uws-highlight-importance-of-technology-at-house-of-commons-event/
The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is a global University aspiring to top tier status. That was the message from&#160;Prof Craig Mahoney, Principal of UWS, at a special event at the House of Commons last night. We were privileged to attend the evening thanks to our ongoing partnership with the University. The Principal explained a variety of different ways he is ensuring the University continues to grow and succeed. One of which is a focus on technology as an enabler of better learning, which is why the university has invested &#163;12m in IT over the last 3 years. He spoke on the impact of students adopting smart phones as their preferred method of communication. According to the principal, these advances in technology mean education establishments like UWS have to transition away from a didactic mode of delivery. In the same way that Amazon adopted a digital strategy to disrupt its market, education has to embrace digital to disrupt theirs and provide the learner with a personalised journey. The Principal even warned that if the education industry fails to transition with technology, they run the risk of becoming redundant.Our Business Development Manager, Richard Graham, also had the opportunity to meet with Dr Lisa Cameron MP (pictured below) to talk about our&#160;Employed platform&#160;and its capability to change the way education providers equip their students for the world of work. Thank you to all of the University staff and the events host, the Rt Hon David Mundell MP, who put on an excellent evening.Fri, 22 Jan 2016 12:34:42 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5340
PNLD launch new Motoring and the Law App News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jan/pnld-launch-new-motoring-and-the-law-app/
Introduction Police National Legal Database (PNLD) have launched an exciting new mobile app, ‘Motoring and the Law’, which provides legally accurate answers to motoring related questions which are frequently asked by the public. Developed by PDMS, the app has been created to make the law more accessible and simpler to understand. Ask the Police The ‘Motoring and the Law’ app follows the hugely successful “Ask the Police” app, which provides legally verified answers to a wide range of questions the police are frequently asked by the public. It provides detailed answers concerning specific areas of the law which are relevant to numerous stakeholders. ‘Ask the Police’ has evolved to become a nationally effective FAQ resource, regularly relied upon by members of the police, as well as members of the general public. It has reduced non-emergency calls to the police and also improved accessibility to the law. To date, ‘Ask the Police’ has received nearly 50 million website visits and over 45K app downloads. The success of providing easy-to-access resources has encouraged the Leicestershire Police to integrate ‘Ask the Police’ into their own website, resulting already in a noticeable reduction of non-emergency calls to their police department. Motoring and the Law Meanwhile, the ‘Motoring and the Law’ app contains an extensive catalogue of motoring specific FAQs, dealing with everyday issues, through to those of a more complex nature. Category topics include: My Vehicle Road Traffic Accidents Motorcycles Driving documents Motoring offenses Road safety Cyclists Highways Driving &amp;amp; disability Commercial vehicles Targeted at motoring enthusiasts, industry professionals and members of the public, ‘Motoring &amp;amp; the Law’ combines the best of both of PNLD’s existing services, www.askthe.police.uk and www.pnld.co.uk, to provide specialised questions and comprehensive answers relevant to motoring law. The app also gives Police access to extensive information in the field, increasing their knowledge of complex aspects of motoring law. Whilst ‘Ask the Police’ offers general information, ‘Motoring and the Law’ contains added legal background to support the answers. For example, the app details common queries and misconceptions, required driving documents and rules, tyre regulations and often includes examples of past court cases and fines. ‘Motoring &amp;amp; the Law’ was developed with a decision tree style of question and answers. This sequential Q&amp;amp;A mapping enhances the user journey and improves individual’s ability to find the answers they are looking for, with results tailored depending on choices made at each stage. An added search function is also adapted for finding information quickly. The future’s bright, the future’s mobile Building on the success of the app and its contribution to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of police and law enforcement, PDMS and PNLD will continue to examine opportunities as they arise to add to their suite of products in other areas of law and police procedure. PDMS takes a unique design approach to app development. Founded in strong relationships and a complex understanding of requirements, the PNLD series are designed individually and specifically for iOS and Android, rather than being solely adapted from websites. This approach ensures a robust system and outstanding user experiences. The app itself is available now for purchase and download from the iTunes Store&#160;or from the Google Play Store . The PNLD team manages the content, guaranteeing the data is reliable and up-to-date. With regular updates, the app requires internet access for use. Happy Motoring!Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:18:10 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5302
Meet the Island&#39;s New Work Experience Coordinator News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2016/jan/meet-the-islands-new-work-experience-coordinator/
employed.im runs the Island’s schools’ Work Experience Programme in conjunction with the Department of Education and Children. The government initiative gives Year 10 students a one to two week placement in a local business, providing invaluable insight into the world of work. Having moved to the Isle of Man in 2000, Lorna has had a varied career, including 10 years’ experience working in the Third Sector on the island. Lorna will provide a single point of contact for the scheme and ensure that the placements run successfully for all those involved – students, schools and employers. Lorna explains, “Work experience is an important part of students’ development, giving key skills, self-confidence and insight into careers opportunities. We are always looking for employers to take on new work placement students and welcome any organisations who would be able to accommodate young people for 1 to 2 week placements.” employed.im can help businesses organise suitable work experience opportunities through its website, ensuring that the experience is as meaningful and beneficial as possible for students and organisations. Numerous businesses including various banks, primary schools, veterinary practices, charities and the Steam Packet Company already take part. The Work Experience Programme is already underway for 2016 with St Ninian’s High School starting their placements at the end of February. However it’s not too late to get involved! If you would like any more information about the programme or how to get signed up, visit&#160;www.employed.im/workexperience, call Lorna on 664000 or email&#160;lorna@employed.im.Tue, 05 Jan 2016 12:52:42 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5200
PDMS continues supplier status on G-Cloud 7 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/dec/pdms-continues-supplier-status-on-g-cloud-7/
A place on the G-Cloud Framework allows PDMS to deliver Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions and Specialist Cloud services (SCS). The government&#39;s G-Cloud framework aims to redefine the way the public sector procures and operates in ICT. The UK Government&#39;s programme adopts cloud-based services and covers the processes of buying, managing and using cloud services. The&#160;G-Cloud Digital Marketplace&#160;was introduced as a framework to provide public sector organisations access to cloud systems with confidence that their data is protected. By providing a government marketplace of pre-vetted suppliers, the&#160;Digital Marketplace&#160;offers a procurement resource for the public sector to use and cut down on the restrictive and lengthy processes often involved in contracting digital services. PDMS works extensively with local and UK Government organisations to deliver digital transformation through secure and scalable web based systems. Having worked with a number of clients through G-Cloud, including the University of the West of Scotland, PDMS&#39; proven track record maintains the G-Cloud values. PDMS on G-Cloud PDMS will be providing services available via the Digital Marketplace in the following categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Software as a Service (SaaS) Specialist Cloud Services (SCS) The services being offered are: MARIS&#160;- our international ship registry solution to manage vessels and seafarers Integrated Smart Ticketing Solution&#160;- our robust solution for remote, demanding and complex transport services PDMS Employed&#160;- for connecting employment, education and skills Doxshare&#160;- for controlling and sharing key documents Hosting and Managed Service Cloud Compute Hosting Service Software development for&#160;Cloud Integration and Implementation PDMS has been an approved supplier for all 7 previous iterations of the Government&#39;s cloud G-Cloud framework, originally launched in 2012. We endeavour to continue offering the most flexible and reliable service to all of our clients. Purchasing via the G-Cloud To find out about the process of buying, managing and using cloud services such as PDMS Employed through the G-Cloud, you can download our &#39;Guide to everything you needed to know about the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace - a guide for public sector organisations&#39;.Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:38:04 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/5135
PDMS to promote IT careers and employed.im at Employment and Skills News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/nov/pdms-to-promote-it-careers-and-employedim-at-employment-and-skills/
The annual careers fair, which is jointly hosted by the Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Department of Education and Children (DEC), is the largest local event aimed at helping people at all stages of their careers to find out about jobs and career opportunities in the Isle of Man. PDMS will be representing their software development business at the event to inform anyone interested about IT related careers such as becoming a web developer, systems analyst, IT project manager and web designer. They will also be providing demonstrations and information about the www.employed.im portal - the Isle of Man&#39;s one stop careers resource and jobs portal for students, job seekers, job changers, training providers and employers. &quot;We&#39;re excited to be exhibiting this year&#39;s Employment and Skills event again. It&#39;s a great occasion for anyone who is seeking more information about career options and new opportunities. There are a huge scope of career options that people often don&#39;t realise are in the IT and software industry.&quot; Chris Gledhill, Managing Director, comments, &quot;This career fair is a chance for individuals to come and speak to the PDMS team about these possibilities it the IT Sector, including getting first hand experiences of their roles.&quot; PDMS with employed.im are also delighted to announce that they are now co-ordinating the Isle of Man School&#39;s Work Experience Programme. Newly appointed Work Experience Co-Ordinator, Lorna Trevethan, will also be attending the event to discuss opportunities on the Island for work placements with schools. Lorna explains, &quot;Offering work experience placements is a fantastic way of giving young adults the chance to learn about the industries on the island and get hands-on experience. The careers fair allows organisations to reach out to young adults who are starting out on their career paths. Anyone is welcome to come and chat to us about utilising employed.im in their career and job search and how you can open yourself to opportunities available locally.&quot; This is an open event and is free to attend. Drop by anytime between 9am and 6pm on Thursday 12th November to find out more about your future career possibilities. Follow us on Twitter&#160;@employed.im&#160;for updates on the day!Fri, 27 Nov 2015 16:24:58 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/4046
PDMS helps Isle of Man Government meet new work permit regulations on time and under budget News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/nov/pdms-helps-isle-of-man-government-meet-new-work-permit-regulations-on-time-and-under-budget/
PDMS’ team originally built the system in 2007, replacing the DED’s legacy software. The latest development had to be delivered before the Control of Employment Act 2014 came into effect on 1st October 2015. These legislation changes allow people from professions with skills shortages, such as nurses and social workers, to be exempt from work permits. Part of the Governments Digital Strategy, it moves increasing amounts of the process online, improving the service delivered to tax payers as well as reducing costs for the DED. The project was undertaken by PDMS’s specialist public sector team, led by Senior Project Manager, Steve Callaghan. Commenting on the project, Steve was delighted with the results: “Working in close collaboration with the DED and Government Technical Services throughout the project, the team’s agile development approach helped to ensure the changes to the system were delivered to a tight and fixed deadline. In additional, this project continued to use a flexible commercial model, target costing, which we have used in a number of other government projects, to unsure the deadline was met and the budget kept to.” Minister for Economic Development, Laurence Skelly MHK added:“The Department&#39;s aim is to balance the interests of Isle of Man workers, who continue to be protected by the new Act, with the need of employers to attract the skilled workers they require to be successful which will help secure the economic future of the Isle of Man. As the Chief Minister highlighted in his ‘Agenda for Change’ speech in July&#39;s Tynwald we need to develop the enterprise strategy highlighted in Vision2020 where businesses find the right environment to flourish and Government is responsive to their needs. As part of this strategy, we need to give a much greater degree of certainty to local employers and prospective skilled workers who want to move here to take up employment. “The reforms that we have introduced will reduce bureaucracy and make the Island even more attractive to those interested in setting up new businesses here, which will further help our commitment to achieving job creation. I would like to thank the Government Technology Service and PDMS, both of whom are helping us deliver an innovative and cost-effective IT solution which will improve the service for our customers at lower cost.” The next stage of the project is due for delivery in early November and will deliver further enhancements including the submission of online applications in addition to the basic online renewals which exists at present.Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:04:02 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/4040
Is the Internet of Things all it&#39;s cracked up to be? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/oct/is-the-internet-of-things-all-its-cracked-up-to-be/
With big money industries such as retail, healthcare, transport, utilities, defence, and oil and gas driving the change, it&#39;s more than your kettle talking to your toaster. Influential technology research firm Gartner thinks there will be 25 billion &quot;connected things&quot; in the world by 2020, whilst others think this is a gross underestimation, suggesting there will be 75 billion! However, there is an air of despondency in some courts due to the slow uptake of IoT - techies admittedly have an elaborate history of making things just because they can! So, how do we make sense of all of this? Is the industry all it&#39;s cracked up to be? To answer this question, we need to look at the different perspectives from both the hopeful camp and the more sceptical camp, before trying to paint a picture of reality. The Hopeful The large and differing &quot;connected things&quot; projections stated above are hardly surprising when you consider how difficult it must be to measure the number of connectable &quot;things&quot; in the global marketplace. If the IoT industry does manage to disrupt whole industries, perhaps even the 75 billion estimation will be on the conservative side. IoT proponents point to current industry disruption taking place to argue for increased disruption in the future.&#160;A good example of this widespread industry disruption is the Amazon Dash Button, a small device with one button that when pressed, instantly orders the product it&#39;s programmed to order. This one straightforward device could disrupt the whole retail industry. Run out of bin bags, press a button. Run out of washing up liquid, press a button. You get the point! As this technology evolves and becomes readily available to consumers, we could have more purchase buttons around the house than light switches. Another technology being championed by IoT proponents is wearable health trackers. A simple wristband that measures sleep pattern, heart rate, calories burned, steps taken and stairs climbed is completely changing the way people control their health. Those who foresee the IoT having a global impact justify their excitement by pointing to the huge investment being poured into it by the world&#39;s leading technology firms. In January 2014 Google paid $3.2 billion to acquire Nest Labs, a connected thermostat and smoke alarm. Since then, they&#39;ve had thousands of developers working to enhance the product. Similarly, in March 2015 IBM announced it was investing $3 billion and hiring 1,400 workers for a new department dedicated to IoT. Closer to home, Cisco announced earlier this year that it is releasing $150 million worth of venture capital money for IoT technology companies in the UK. If these guys are taking it seriously, surely we should too, right? The Sceptics Despite the excitement around the industry and the huge investment being put into it, there are some sceptical voices emerging. For example, Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, recently addressed a global business conference saying, &quot;I feel it (the IoT industry) is kind of a bubble, because there is a pace at which human beings can change the way they do things.&quot; Wozniak makes a good point; widespread adoption of IoT is ultimately down to the consumer. This has been a significant problem for the IoT industry over the last decade. There is no shortage of IoT products on the market but they&#39;re hardly commonplace in most homes. At the same time, they&#39;ve not really been adopted by the workplace either.A recent survey of 565 enterprise IT decision makers from global organisations revealed that only 12% were actually implementing an IoT solution. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the delayed uptake of IoT products. Firstly, IoT providers have been unable to translate their product features into valuable solutions that solve business problems. Secondly, many IT infrastructures are unable to support IoT systems. Thirdly, there are security issues around connecting devices together, which have made a lot of noise in the media and generated a lot of scepticism. The Reality Considering the huge amount of investment and media hype around the IoT industry combined with the slow consumer adoption rate, we can assume that the IoT industry has the potential to be all that it&#39;s cracked up to be, but it&#39;s not there yet. Industries like healthcare, transport, utilities, defence and oil and gas have been the biggest movers and shakers in the IoT industry so far. Health organisations have invested millions into virtually monitoring patient&#39;s health which has had a very positive impact on A&amp;amp;E attendances. Transport companies have invested in smart parking meters to provide consumers with real time updates on available parking spaces. Innovations like this have proven the value of IoT to increase efficiency and improve productivity. However, the industry can&#39;t afford to rest on its laurels and just expect consumers to buy in. In order to meet expectations it has to produce the innovation that will drive consumer engagement. Let&#39;s get brainstorming!Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:45:31 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3925
PDMS shortlisted at Awards for Excellence 2015 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/oct/pdms-shortlisted-at-awards-for-excellence-2015/
This year is the 10th&#160;anniversary of the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence. Each year the awards recognise local achievements of businesses and individuals, holding a&#160;prestigious black tie awards ceremony to celebrate the occasion. PDMS Compass Ferry Reservation&#160;system is a robust solution for remote, demanding and complex ferry services, allowing operators to provide services even in wet and stormy weather. PDMS has been recognised for the effective marketing and development of the product through in-depth analysis of market segments and needs. This included creating a new brand identity and visual style which is consistent with PDMS&#39; existing product portfolio, together with combined with attending and exhibiting at numerous international ferry events around the world to help increase awareness of Compass. These activities have been so successful that, whilst maintaining support and service to existing customers, the PDMS team has also doubled the client base over the last 12 months, including two new international clients. &quot;We&#39;ve had a fantastic 12 months which has exceeded all our expectations.&quot; Comments Sales Director, David Stickland. &quot;With the support of a great team both in Glasgow and the Isle of Man, we are on track to become a major player in the international ferry market&quot;. Also nominated for an award is the&#160;Isle of Man Maritime Group, of which&#160;PDMS Maritime&#160;is an active member and PDMS Director Bruce McGregor currently chairs. The Groups has been shortlisted in the &#39;Freedom to Flourish&#39; category, recognising their team effort promoting the Isle of Man as a maritime centre of excellence. This was highlighted during this year&#39;s London International Shipping week, where the Group hosted their &quot;Nautical by Nature&quot; event which demonstrated the Island&#39;s culture and maritime business opportunities.&#160;One of PDMS&#39;s most recent employee&#39;s completes the hat-trick at this year&#39;s Awards nominations. Nick Collins, who joined the firm in September as a trainee designer, has been nominated by Junior Achievement Isle of Man for Young Achiever of the Year for his voluntary work and contribution to the organisation!&#160;The Awards for Excellence will be held at the Villa Marina on Thursday 19 November and winners will be announced on the night. Good luck everyone!Wed, 28 Oct 2015 09:47:18 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3918
PDMS give back with sponsorship of University of Liverpool Aquatic Biodiversity &amp; Ecosystems Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/oct/pdms-give-back-with-sponsorship-of-university-of-liverpool-aquatic-biodiversity-ecosystems-conference/
PDMS has strong links with the maritime community and a historic relationship with the University of Liverpool; many of PDMS&#39; early projects were bourne out of these relationships and involved the creation of systems which contributed to scientific research and conservation within the Irish Sea dating back to the University&#39;s involvement in the marine laboratory in Port Erin. The Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conference was a meeting for aquatic scientists with a focus on evolution, and long-term change - particularly how these shape patterns of biodiversity and the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.&#160;Over 300 delegates from over 40 countries came to the conference representing all continents with a stellar line up of keynote speakers. PDMS&#39; Managing Director, Chris Gledhill and many members of the senior team at PDMS were involved with the marine laboratory either as students or through family and friends. Commenting on the sponsorship, Chris was delighted to sponsor the event: &quot;When the opportunity arouse to sponsor the conference it was a pleasure&#160;to support a community who contributed to our early success.&#160;Our sponsorship enabled continued collaboration between aquatic scientists from around the world which began on the Isle of Man.&quot; The conference also marked&#160;Professor&#160;Steve Hawkins&#39;&#160;retirement from &quot;wearing a suit&quot;. His contribution to science was recognised through the presentation of &quot;The Hawkins Collection&quot; - 50 limpet shells from a range of aquatic habitats (freshwater, coastal &amp;amp; deep sea) donated by aquatic scientists from all over the globe. The collection provided a visual testament to Steve&#39;s impact on people&#39;s lives and careers.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:16:36 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3905
PDMS announced as Silver sponsors to Interferry 2015 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jun/pdms-announced-as-silver-sponsors-to-interferry-2015/
PDMS is delighted to be announced as Silver Sponsors to the highly anticipated 40th Interferry 2015 Conference, which will take place in Copenhagen on 3 - 7 October 2015. The sponsorship follows PDMS&#39; attendance at the 39th Interferry Conference in Vancouver, Canada last year to promote their Compass ferry reservation software and ticketing solutions. The Conference, which is aimed at top-level decision-makers and senior executives within the ferry industry includes a full programme of highly informative speakers and a technical tour, exploring new market ideas, strategies and technologies. Guest speakers at the event include Peter De Keyzer (BNP Parabas Fortis), Tim Reardron (UK Chamber of Shipping), Robert Almstrom (Stena RoRo) and Michael Grey (Maritime Journalist), with session updates from other key industry figures. Commenting on the news, David Stickland, Director at PDMS said, &quot;The 40th Interferry 2015 Conference is a great opportunity to explore new relationships within the global ferry industry and to showcase new enhancements to our Compass ferry reservation and ticketing product - such as our mobile app for ferry operators&quot;. To help support their growing business in the ferry industry, PDMS has also recently become an Associate Member of Interferry - the international shipping association representing the worldwide ferry industry. Interferry has over 200 members from over 35 countries and, as members, PDMS will benefit from regular updates on issues of importance to the ferry industry as well as access to networking opportunities. To find out more about PDMS and its ferry technology products and services, or to contact David ahead of the Conference, please get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:03:45 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3904
PDMS return from Subcon Show 2015 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jun/pdms-return-from-subcon-show-2015/
Now in its 32nd year, Subcon&#160;provides a platform for buyers, specifiers and key decision makers from all industry sectors to meet and compare suppliers, source new technological solutions, develop new partnerships, obtain quotations and ultimately, do business in order to remain competitive in a global market. Commenting on the event, Andrew Cairns, Account Manager at PDMS said, &quot;The purpose of the visit was to enable us to continue to understand the needs of our clients. One of the products that PDMS has gained through the recent&#160;acquisition&#160;of certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited is an ERP (Enterprise resource planning) system called iCon 360, which is in use by a number of our existing clients&quot;. To keep updated with the latest events that PDMS is attending, follow us on Twitter @PDMS.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:58:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3901
PDMS shortlisted as Best in Public Sector for ScotlandIS DigiTech Awards News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/may/pdms-shortlisted-as-best-in-public-sector-for-scotlandis-digitech-awards/
PDMS, has been shortlisted in the ScotlandIS DigiTech Awards 2015 for the Best in Public Sector Service/Product category with its partner the Police National Legal Database (PNLD), on their Ask the Scottish Police project, amidst a record number of entries. PDMS has been working as a technology partner to PNLD for over 10 years, delivering a range of innovative new online services which benefit criminal justice agencies and wider communities. Through this partnership, PDMS has developed the Ask the Police Scotland website and App (available for use on both iOS and Android), which helps the public get instant answers to over 750 most frequently asked questions, covering a wide range of police related issues. Typical questions include queries on personal safety and anti-social behaviour, to what action to take following a road traffic collision or on receiving a fixed penalty notice. This information is not only up to date but legally correct, offering both the residents of Scotland and visitors alike a quick, easy and accurate way to find out the information they need - whether at home, work or when out and about. Questions and answers are&#160;updated&#160;frequently and the &#39;Question of the Day&#39; and &#39;Latest News&#39; features provide topical local information, with additional questions also answered from the site by PNLD staff. At a time when Police Scotland needs to find &#163;11 million in funding to break even, it is calculated that the website alone saves police call handlers in Scotland over &#163;281,000 per annum, saving time and resources by reducing the amount of non-emergency calls taken through the police contact centres. Commenting on the news, Chris Gledhill Managing Director of PDMS said, &quot;We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the DigiTech Awards - our work with PNLD has delivered significant cost savings and enhanced services, highlighting the role of technology and innovation in delivering public sector efficiencies. Since launch, both the Ask the Scottish Police website and App have become an invaluable resource for the staff at police contact centres and the general public&quot;. The awards, which are in their fifth year and include the BBC Scotland&#39;s Head of Technology John Maxwell Hobbs on the judging panel, will take place at The Arches in Glasgow on 18 June 2015.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:55:27 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3898
PDMS Southern Nomads lift Cheshire Title News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/apr/pdms-southern-nomads-lift-cheshire-title/
PDMS sponsored Southern Nomads won the 2015 Cheshire Bowl on Saturday 4th April - taking their winning tally to 3 out of four Cheshire Finals in consecutive years. The Nomads were elevated to the Bowl competition this season, after their success in the more junior Plate. After disposing of league sides Oswestry and Bowden, the Nomads beat Ashton-on-Mersey 12-11 during Saturday&#39;s final.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:48:17 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3895
New Police App for Scotland News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/apr/new-police-app-for-scotland/
The &quot;Ask Police Scotland&quot; app, available for use on both iOS and Android, has been launched by PNLD (Police National Legal Database) and was developed by PDMS. An official Police Scotland resource, the &quot;Ask Police Scotland&quot; app provides immediate access to over 750 of the questions most frequently asked by the public across Scotland - ranging from personal safety and anti-social behaviour right through to road traffic collisions and fixed penalty notices. In 2014 the combined forces that make up Police Scotland received circa 600,000 emergency (999) calls and 3,6000,000 non-emergency (101) calls. This new app, which is free of charge, provides another quick and easy way for both the residents of Scotland and visitors alike, to find out the information they need - whether at home, work or out and about. Questions and answers are updated frequently and the Question of the Day and Latest News features provide topical local information. The up to date and legally correct information is pulled directly from PNLD&#39;s Ask the Scottish Police portal. The main Ask the Police portal for England and Wales was originally developed for PNLD, by PDMS, in 2005 - to help save the Police Service valuable time and resources by reducing the amount of non-emergency calls taken through the police contact centres. Since their launch, both the Ask the Police and the Ask the Scottish Police websites have evolved to become an invaluable resource for both the staff at police contact centres and the general public. In addition, it is estimated that the websites save the Police Service over &#163;25 million per year! PNLD is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with educational charitable objectives. They provide a range of services to the police forces in Scotland, England and Wales including an online database of up to date legal information, case law and standard offence wordings. PDMS have worked with PNLD as their technology partner for many years - helping to launch innovative new services including the recent Help for Victims website The new app can be downloaded from the iTunes Store here or from the Google Play Store here.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:46:13 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3893
PDMS expands digital solutions offering via G-Cloud 6 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/mar/pdms-expands-digital-solutions-offering-via-g-cloud-6/
G-Cloud 6 has been launched as an initiative to redefine the way the UK public sector - central and local government - procures and operates ICT, ensuring transparent access to the latest technology, innovations and services. The G-Cloud&#39;s marketplace of cloud services and their suppliers, called the Digital Marketplace, represents solutions assured for security, performance and service management. Sales through G-Cloud have now reached &#163;467m, with &#163;37m in January 2015 alone. Commenting on the news, Chris Gledhill (pictured left), Managing Director of PDMS stated, &quot;PDMS&#39; successful application to the G-Cloud 6 is a fantastic reflection of our sustained focus on being at the forefront of digitalising government services. During this iteration of the G-Cloud we&#39;re also pleased to announce that we have expanded our product range to include PDMS Employed, our online employability hub for local authorities and PaySolve, our comprehensive payroll system&quot;. As an early adopter of the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace (previously known as the CloudStore), PDMS has been awarded supplier status on each bi-annual iteration of the platform since its launch in 2012. Since then, island based PDMS has worked&#160;extensively with many UK Government public sector organisations to improve processes and service delivery through the development of enterprise scale web based business systems. PDMS is currently working with a number of clients through G-Cloud, including the University of the West of Scotland. Founded on the island in 1993, PDMS has a successful track record of providing software development services for key public sector&#160;clients such as the Isle of Man Government, and has expanded into the UK through the launch of their Scottish office. With high profile UK based clients such as the National Health Service, the Police Legal Database and the West Midlands Police, PDMS has delivered hundreds of public sector projects to meet the efficiency and transform agenda of the UK Government.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:41:32 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3890
PDMS thinks big with maritime business News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/feb/pdms-thinks-big-with-maritime-business/
It&#39;s been just five months since PDMS acquired certain parts and assets of Scotland based Maxima Information Group Ltd, a move that saw the Isle of Man&#39;s largest software development company, PDMS, further expand their already strong presence in the maritime sector through their &#39;PDMS Maritime&#39; brand. Through the acquisition, PDMS Maritime has added the very well established &#39;Compass&#39; range of ferry reservation and ticketing solutions to their suite of software solutions - used by ferry operators in Scotland, England and internationally.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:38:00 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3889
PDMS marks growth in Scotland with visit from Fergus Ewing MSP News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/feb/pdms-marks-growth-in-scotland-with-visit-from-fergus-ewing-msp/
From left to right: Cathy Craig - Commercial Director at Caledonian MacBrayne, Fergus Ewing MSP - Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Chris Gledhill- Managing Director of PDMS, David Johnston - Assistant Director ICT Support at the University of West Scotland, Professor Paul Martin - Deputy Principal at the University of West Scotland. The reception was attended by customers and partners from the local business community who were there to get an update on PDMS&#39; activities following the company&#39;s recent acquisition of certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group.&#160;Business Minister Fergus Ewing said: &quot;The ICT and digital technology sector is a key driver of economic growth in Scotland, contributing roughly &#163;3 billion to our economy each year. We recognise that Scotland has high quality skills and expertise in areas of ICT that are recognised internationally and we will continue to work closely with companies like PDMS, and academia to drive forward further innovation. &quot;Scotland can offer the right people, the right skills and a competitive infrastructure for business. PDMS&#39;s presence in Scotland is indicative of a mutually beneficial strengthening of ties between both sectors, ties which will undoubtedly stimulate increased tourism and business opportunities.&quot; Fergus Ewing MSP - Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism From left to right: Fergus Ewing MSP - Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Chris Gledhill - Managing Director of PDMS and David Stickland - Director at PDMS. At the event, PDMS were able to announce two major new clients - boosting not only their local customer base but also significantly growing their export business. The first announcement relates to an exciting new partnership with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). PDMS will be working closely with the University&#39;s Information Services team on UWS&#39;s investment in technology as part of its ambitious strategy based around three themes - Dreaming, Believing and Achieving.&#160;PDMS and the University are also looking at how their joint collaboration can help benefit Information Technology and Computing students through work placements and graduate apprenticeships.&#160;Commenting on this new partnership, Chris Gledhill, Managing Director said &quot;We are delighted to be working with the University of the West of Scotland as one of their local technology partners. UWS is a progressive and evolving university whose growing influence not only extends to the West of Scotland, but also to a national and, an increasingly, international level.&quot; Jim O&#39;Donnell, Chief Information Service Officer at UWS added: &quot;The University is making significant investment in IT across its campuses and we look forward to collaborating with PDMS as part of this exciting initiative.&quot;&#160;In addition to growing their client base in Scotland, PDMS have also recently had significant success in the global market. Their Compass ferry reservation and ticketing solution, already used by a number of Scottish ferry operators, will now be used in warmer climates - with a new contract win in the Seychelles. Earlier this month, PDMS started working with Seychelles based ferry operator Cat Cocos to install a new online reservations system which will help increase revenue on their catamaran boats. PDMS will be showcasing Compass, in April, at the 2015 Shippax Ferry Shipping Conference in Rotterdam.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:32:35 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3886
PDMS’ industry leading ferry software solutions website goes live News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/feb/pdms-industry-leading-ferry-software-solutions-website-goes-live/
Compass is PDMS&#39; innovative ferry reservations, ticketing and fares modelling product, which is used by ferry operators around the world, from the remote seas of Scotland, to warmer climates in Greece. This is a major milestone in the continued integration of the product portfolio of Maxima Information Group Limited, of which certain parts of the business and assets were acquired by PDMS in late 2014. The launch of the new website reflects PDMS&#39; ambitious plans to further promote Compass as part of the company&#39;s major focus on its suite of maritime technology solutions. It will also allow PDMS to build on strong strategic growth and positioning, raising awareness of PDMS as a technology partner for maritime sector organisations. Commenting on the live launch of the website, David Stickland, Director of PDMS commented, &quot;The new website is part of our coordinated efforts to deliver outstanding technological solutions to the international shipping sector, allowing us to effectively promote our ferry reservations, ticketing and fares modelling solution, Compass, to the wider markets. We&#39;ve already showcased Compass in the Caribbean, Seychelles, North America and Canada in the past few months alone! PDMS&#39; in-house design team, Digital Design, did a fantastic job of reflecting our customer centric approach in the website&#39;s design&quot;. The launch of the new website comes at a perfect time for PDMS, who plan to exhibit at the Rotterdam 2015 Shippax Ferry Shipping Conference in April - which is one of the largest global conferences in the shipping industry. To see the very best in ferry software solutions, take a look at the new website by visiting ferrysoftware.co.uk.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:29:37 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3883
PDMS to promote ferry software at international Shippax Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jan/pdms-to-promote-ferry-software-at-international-shippax-conference/
Hosted in Rotterdam, on April 21-23 on board P &amp;amp; O&#39;s Pride of Rotterdam, the annual Ferry Shipping Conference, founded and organised by Shippax and BOLT Consulting is one of the largest conferences in the ferry industry, with around 400 ferry shipping delegates expected in attendance from Europe and further afield. The heavily anticipated conference will cover commercial performance, industry insight and debates, and will feature exciting industry speakers and an exhibition with key industry players. The conference comes at a perfect time for PDMS, who have recently expanded their ferry ticketing and reservations offering with their powerful Compass ferry ticketing and reservations product, through their UK subsidiary, Professional Data Management Services (UK) Limited, who acquired certain parts of the business and assets of&#160;Maxima Information Group&#160;in September 2014. Boasting a strong and long term client base, PDMS&#39;s ferry software is currently in use by Caledonian MacBrayne, Orkey Ferries, Pentland Ferries, Shetland Islands Council, Western Ferries and Ticket Hour. Commenting on the news of PDMS&#39; plans to promote Compass across the international ferry, David Stickland, Sales Director of PDMS said, &quot;Having attended the 39th&#160;Annual Interferry Conference in Vancouver last year, we are particularly excited to be exploring further relationships at the 2015 Ferry Shipping Conference. Last year was an extremely positive year for us in terms of strategic growth and market positioning and this exhibition will provide us with the ideal platform from which to advance our Compass ferry ticketing and reservation software into the wider market&quot;. For more information on the 2015 Ferry Shipping Conference, please visit&#160;www.ferryshippingconference.com&#160;or to get in touch with David Stickland ahead of the conference please email&#160;compass@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:24:48 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3878
PDMS gives update on their hosting solutions News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/dec/pdms-gives-update-on-their-hosting-solutions/
Skyscape Cloud Services has developed a range of cloud services specifically for the UK public sector, to help increase efficiencies, reduce costs, significantly improve procurement times and increase transparency. Skyscape&#39;s services are Pan Government Accredited up to IL3 and all of their services are hosted in one (or both) of their highly-resilient Tier 3 UK data centres. They boast an impressive client base including working with the Cabinet Office, Home Office, HMRC and MOD. The partnership means that, in addition to our own hosting services, PDMS can offer clients IL2 and IL3 hosting. With Skyscape, PDMS can provide the benefits of on-demand resources to meet any stringent requirements, all on a true utility consumption model (pay for what you use), allowing clients to match their data needs with the appropriate level and cost. This service is supported and compliant with the UK Government&#39;s ICT Strategy and Information Principles for the UK Public Sector, and Skyscape is also the service provider of choice for Assured Cloud Services. Skyscape&#39;s datacentres are among the most energy efficient in the world, with CarbonNeutral&#174; Company status. Through partnerships such as this, PDMS aims to ensure that the quality and scope of their services is both complimented and expanded, providing services and solution which serve the market now and into the future.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:17:24 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3874
PDMS sponsor Hawick Rugby Club at Mansfield News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/nov/pdms-sponsor-hawick-rugby-club-at-mansfield/
PDMS can now finally unveil their filming with Hawick RFC Rugby Club at Mansfield Park as their official sponsor for the 2014-2015 season. In the video, we hear from PDMS&#39; David Stickland and Derek Rae, plus we have commentary from Charlie Oliver, the Club&#39;s Head of Sponsorship and International Tickets. Find out why PDMS have chosen to support and partner with Hawick RFC club, watch the players in action and go behind the scenes at the playing grounds.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:14:39 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3872
PDMS to promote software careers and employed.im at Employment and Skills 2014 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/pdms-to-promote-software-careers-and-employedim-at-employment-and-skills-2014/
On Thursday 13 November, PDMS will be hosting a stand at the Isle of Man Employment and Skills 2014 careers fair. The event, organised by the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Education and Children is the largest local event highlighting career and training opportunities for Isle of Man residents. Part of the Government&#39;s &#39;Vision 2020&#39; strategy, the event is aimed at matching shortages of sector-specific employment skills with the Isle of Man&#39;s workforce. PDMS be representing their software development business at the event. They will also be showcasing their www.employed.im portal - the Isle of Man&#39;s one stop careers resource and jobs portal for students, job seekers, job changes, training providers and employers. The exhibition will mark the one year anniversary of employed.im, which was officially launched at last year&#39;s Employment and Skills event, following its rebrand from Manx Graduates. Commenting on their attendance at the event, PDMS&#39; HR Manager, Lauren Stewart said, &quot;We&#39;re delighted to be attending this year&#39;s Employment and Skills event again. It&#39;s the perfect occasion for anyone seeking new opportunities and career options to come and speak to us about utilising employed.im in their career and job search. Individuals can also come and talk to us to find out what it&#39;s like to work for a successful software development company. We&#39;ll be handing out free fact sheets on IT related career choices such as becoming a web developer, systems analyst, IT project manager and web designer. When people think about working in the software industry, they often don&#39;t realise the breadth of different career options that are available, nor do they realise that people with skills and experience in the software development and IT industry are in very high demand on the Island&quot;. The event is open from 9am until 6pm at the Villa Marina and is free to attend. You can tweet @PDMS to let them know you&#39;ll see them there!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:37:34 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3871
PDMS provide technology for new innovative victim and witness service News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/pdms-provide-technology-for-new-innovative-victim-and-witness-service/
The website, aptly named www.helpforvictims.co.uk is being launched today by Yorkshire&#39;s Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson with an event in Leeds that will be attended by Baroness Newlove, who was appointed as the Victims&#39; Commissioner in 2012 together with the charity Victim Support, who will be closely involved with referrals from the website. Funded by the Ministry of Justice, it is hoped that the website will be rolled out to other police forces across England and Wales and is for anyone who feels they are a victim or witness to a crime and don&#39;t know where to go for help. With the introduction of Help for Victims, individuals will be able to immediately access all the information contained within the Victims&#39; Code and the Witness Charter in a question and answer format. The local features of the website, which is in five other languages in addition to English, and reflects the West Yorkshire community, include individual pages dedicated to over 400 local supporting organisations, which can help with concerns such as cyber bullying or hate crime with trained advisers on hand to answer questions or concerns. Mr Burns-Williamson said: &quot;This website will ensure victims and witnesses have access to all the knowledge they need to empower them to make informed decisions. &quot;I have made five promises within my Police and Crime Plan to victims and witnesses including ensuring they get the high quality support and help they need, when they need it, in the way they need it from the right agency. The Help for Victims website fits that criteria because it contains advice and support from the Victims&#39; Code as well as details of numerous relevant organisations within West Yorkshire that can also help victims. It is the only website with all these facilities in one place that provides clear and concise advice to victims and witnesses who want to understand the criminal justice process and their rights, contained within the Victims&#39; Code. There is also information for victims and witnesses to self-refer to local organisations who can provide particular specialist victim and witness services beyond the website. Anyone who feels they are a victim or witness to a crime and don&#39;t know where to turn for help can use this website. It is there for the most vulnerable in society and empowers individuals to make choices for themselves and provides an opportunity for them to have an effective voice in the wider criminal justice system.&quot; Lesley McLean, the divisional manager for Victim Support in West Yorkshire, added &quot;People in West Yorkshire are lucky that they have this additional website to use if they are a crime victim. Not only will they be able to get information about their entitlements through the Victims Code, but also have a database of organisations they can turn to for help. As a charity we have supported thousands of people who have been the victim of a crime in West Yorkshire and we work in partnership with many other organisations in and around the region. We aim to make sure all crime victims get the support they need and the respect they deserve - regardless of whether or not they want to report a crime to the police.&quot; To date, PNLD have developed a raft of services which benefit police forces, the wider criminal justice community and members of the public, including the national Ask the Police portal and mobile apps which provide legally verified answers to commonly asked questions - reducing the amount of non-emergency phone calls and thereby saving the police forces millions of pounds each year. Help for Victims - did you know? As well as English, the site has been translated into the five most frequently spoken languages in West Yorkshire, including Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic and Polish. It is the only website which provides answers within a time frame of 24 working hours to questions relating to the Victims Code and content of the site. It is also the only website of its kind which will be provided in IoS and Android App format.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:35:04 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3870
PDMS&#39;s ship registry solution shortlisted for technology award News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/pdmss-ship-registry-solution-shortlisted-for-technology-award/
MARIS is our ship registry management solution which has been designed to meet the ever growing market demand for an enterprise system to manage all the key business functions of international ship registries. Providing a central database to help registries run more efficiently, MARIS helps to reduce costs and provide a first class service to customers and stakeholders, whilst also helping them meet international maritime organisation (IMO), international Port State Control (PSC), Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) requirements. MARIS is already in use by three of the world&#39;s leading International Ship Registries - the Isle of Man, Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. PDMS would like to congratulate all shortlisted finalists for the Awards and we are very much looking forward to the Awards Ceremony on 20 November 2014. To find out more about MARIS, please visit our dedicated PDMS Maritime website.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:31:06 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3869
PDMS return from the 39th Annual Interferry Conference, Vancouver News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/pdms-return-from-the-39th-annual-interferry-conference-vancouver/
Interferry is the only shipping association representing the ferry industry worldwide and the event brought together the largest marine transport providers and suppliers in the world. This was the first time that PDMS has attended the conference, which boasted nearly 300 delegates, providing an excellent opportunity to explore new ideas and markets, strategies and of course technologies. With PDMS&#39; ferry ticketing and ferry reservations software, the conference was also a great platform from whichto network, discuss product benefits and latest developments. Highlights of the conference included a report from SEO Len Roueche on his nomination to a new UN high level advisory group on sustainable transport, and the Executive Director for European Union and IMO affairs Johan Roos&#39;s comment on breakthrough EU ferry operator funding for emission control. Other sessions included panel discussions on developments in Latin America and the Caribbean, retail and customer service, human safety, subsidies and governance, on board revenue opportunities and the future of ro-pax shipping. PDMS&#39; attendance at the conference came just a month after the announcement of an agreement for PDMS&#39; UK subsidiary, Professional Data Management Services (UK) Limited, to acquire certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited, a subsidiary company within the Castleton Technology group of companies. In a deal worth approaching &#163;1 million, the acquisition related to the ERP, payroll software, and ferry ticketing business. For more information on PDMS&#39; ferry reservation and ticketing solutions, please visit our Compass&#160;website.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:25:11 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3866
PDMS Announces Sponsorship of Hawick RFC News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/pdms-announces-sponsorship-of-hawick-rfc/
PDMS is delighted to announce a new sponsorship deal with Hawick RFC for the 2014-15 season, which will see the company logo featured on the back of the playing strip and at the club&#39;s Mansfield Park ground. The sponsor deal comes just a month after PDMS&#39; recent acquisition of certain parts of the business and assets of Glasgow based Maxima Information Group Limited, which has significantly expanded PDMS&#39; operations in Scotland. Head of sponsorship and international tickets for Hawick RFC, Charlie Oliver, attended PDMS&#39; official launch in Scotland in April 2014. Once PDMS were aware of the sponsorship opportunities with Hawick, they were keen to get involved - demonstrating their commitment to the local community. PDMS&#39; Sales Director, David Stickland said, &quot;PDMS have a track record of sponsoring local sporting teams in the Isle of Man throughout our 21 year history and we wanted to continue that tradition in the home of our newest office.&quot; The 2014/15 season has just got underway and the club is glad to have received further support for the year ahead. Charlie Oliver said, &quot;Commercial sponsorship is vitally important for community rugby clubs like Hawick. Support comes from local firms and also companies like PDMS seeking a foothold in new areas of the country. In return for their generous support we look forward to increasing the profile of PDMS in the Borders and wider afield.&quot; PDMS have delivered software projects to companies and public sector organisations around the United Kingdom and further afield for over 20 years. They place much importance on having a presence in the areas they work in, whether that be through office space, sponsorship or charitable links. This new sponsorship deal gives PDMS a presence in the borders, which they hope will lead to further development within the area. David Stickland said, &quot;We&#39;ve been greatly encouraged by the response from the Scottish market since we opened our Glasgow office in April. Hopefully this new link with Hawick will help us to continue raising our profile in the borders and surrounding areas&quot;. Hawick RFC play in the BT Premiership and boast an impressive history including a treble in 2001/02, winning the Scottish League Championship, Scottish Cup and Border League Championship. They have seen 59 of their players capped for their country, including the notable Stuart Hogg who made his debut for Scotland in 2012. Charlie Oliver said, &quot;This is an exciting time for Hawick RFC. We will be appointing a new Head Coach in the near future and we are really looking forward to the season ahead&quot;.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:15:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3862
PDMS gives interview on &#163;1m Scottish deal News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/sep/pdms-gives-interview-on-1m-scottish-deal/
PDMS&#39; Managing Director, Chris Gledhill has given an interview to Manx Radio&#39;s Business News with James Davies, on PDMS&#39; recent acquisition of certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited, a subsidiary company within the Castleton Technology group of companies, by its UK subsidiary, Professional Data Management Services (UK) Limited. In a deal worth approaching &#163;1 million, the acquisition relates to the enterprise resource planning, payroll software, and ferry ticketing business. Chris&#39; interview aired on Mandate News on 11 September 2014.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:11:25 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3860
PDMS&#39; Expansion in Scotland boosted by &#163;1m deal News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/sep/pdms-expansion-in-scotland-boosted-by-1m-deal/
Just five months after the launch of their Scottish office, Isle of Man software engineering company PDMS Ltd has announced an agreement for its UK subsidiary, Professional Data Management Services (UK) Limited, to acquire certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited, a subsidiary company within the Castleton Technology group of companies. In a deal worth approaching &#163;1 million, the acquisition relates to the ERP, payroll software, and ferry ticketing business. This move will see PDMS substantially increase their staff numbers whilst growing their presence and client base in Scotland - a demonstration of their ongoing commitment to developing their Scottish operations. The expansion is also welcomed by Scottish Enterprise who have helped the company get up and running in Scotland. PDMS&#39; Managing Director, Chris Gledhill commented, &quot;We are delighted to welcome Maxima ABS&#39; staff and customers to PDMS. This news further demonstrates our commitment, not only to operating out of Scotland, but to enhancing our expertise and our range of services and solutions in different market sectors&quot;. PDMS has been operating in the ICT sector for over 21 years and the acquisition is a good strategic business fit which complements PDMS&#39; existing range of software services and solutions. PDMS has recently been making further inroads in the maritime sector and through both its existing projects and ABS&#39; ferry ticketing and reservation software, PDMS will now become a major technology supplier in the ferry industry, with customers including one of Scotland&#39;s main ferry operators - CalMac Ferries Ltd and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Through the acquisition PDMS can now also offer Maxima ABS&#39; customers a complete end to end service and access to additional expertise and innovation. PDMS&#39; Director in Scotland, David Stickland added, &quot;This is a great opportunity for both organisations to combine our technical expertise, and our deep understanding of the challenges faced by different sectors, for the benefit of our clients&quot;. Joining forces with PDMS is a welcome development for ABS Maxima, who will be able to tap into PDMS&#39; investment in their Foundations platform - which enables the rapid and cost effective development of online systems. Derek Rae, Director of Maxima ABS, explained, &quot;We are very much looking forward to becoming part of the PDMS team. Like us they have been around for a long time and I believe they have the innovation and skills that will be of great benefit to us and our customers&quot;. To speak to PDMS about your software requirements, please get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:04:18 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3857
A new face joins our Scottish team News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/sep/a-new-face-joins-our-scottish-team/
Aimee will be responsible for maintaining and developing partnerships with our Scottish clients, building on the great welcome we received at our launch in April. Aimee is also a University of Glasgow graduate with experience working in the local business community, bringing further knowledge and understanding of the Scottish markets to PDMS. Commenting on the appointment Aimee said, &quot;I&#39;m really excited to join PDMS at such an exciting time. I&#39;m looking forward to contributing to the growth and success of the company in Scotland.&quot; If you are a Scottish based company and would like to discuss how PDMS can help your business, please contact Aimee at aimee.buchanan@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:56:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3854
PDMS’ Chris returns from judging Europe’s largest youth entrepreneurship competition News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/aug/pdms-chris-returns-from-judging-europe-s-largest-youth-entrepreneurship-competition/
Chris was nominated to the judging panel by Junior Achievement Isle of Man, after his contributions as Chairman last year. This year, 250,000 students entered the competition and only the top 38 student companies were showcased at the final, representing 500 students, teachers, business advisors and partners at the three day event that took place on 23-25th July. JA-YE Europe&#160;is Europe&#39;s largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes for young people, reaching 3.2 million students in 39 different countries last year alone. Funded by businesses, foundations, institutions and individuals, the aim of the charity is to bring together public and private sectors to help inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Commenting on the event Chris explained, &quot;The competition was exceptionally inspiring and it was great to see the extent of the support for the event - Estonia&#39;s Minister of Education was part of the keynote address with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia, Taavi Roivas opening the Awards Ceremony. In particular the Prime Ministers&#39; reflection on his own Junior Achievement experience as an alumni was very insightful. All of the finalists demonstrated consistently high standards and the cultural diversity of the participants reflected not only their thirst for success and ambition, but talent&quot;. The student company finalists had been running their businesses for up to year ahead of the competition, with each company expected to create and market real products and/or services, successfully dealing with the challenges of setting up and running a business. The coveted Company of the Year competition is judged based on an annual report, live presentations, a panel interview and a trade show on the third day of the event. Key criteria for the championships included marketing and sales strategy, objective setting, financial systems, personnel management, product or service development and customer focus. Reflecting on the experience Chris said, &quot;The most memorable part of the judging experience was definitely the trade show - to see the students together in such a concentrated environment with their products was fantastic - a real opportunity to get to know the students. I was also impressed by their natural engagement with and innovative use of technology - the next generations are truly digital natives!&quot; For those that didn&#39;t walk away with an award on the night, Chris added, &quot;it is important to remember that the competition itself does not define the quality of entrepreneurship displayed and is only a snapshot of the learning experience over the past year. Many of the student companies had very viable business propositions and I expect many of these to survive long after the event.&quot; PDMS would like to congratulate Isle of Man team Simple Minds from Ballakermeen High School, who won the People&#39;s Choice Award for their &#39;Need a Hand?&#39; polyurethane self-sealing gloves to pick up dog waste through Facebook votes. Their Rio Allison was also selected as one of only 15 students to receive the Alumni Leadership Award. Overall competition winner was E14-Magma from Iceland, who designed and produced souvenir shot glasses made from black clay and Icelandic lava. Chris commented, &quot;Winning the People&#39;s Choice Award this year - through online voting was a fantastic joined up effort coordinated by JA IOM and proves how well connected the Island can be. PDMS has been a long standing supporter of JA IOM and we look forward to the next company programme&quot;.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:51:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3851
PDMS amongst the world&#39;s first to be awarded new international quality standard News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jul/pdms-amongst-the-worlds-first-to-be-awarded-new-international-quality-standard/
Published in September 2013, the latest ISO 27001:2013&#160;standard is the recognised international benchmark for information security management and supersedes the ISO27001:2005 standard - previously held by PDMS. The new international security standard places greater emphasis on management leadership, performance and metrics, risk management and stakeholder requirements - with wide-ranging requirements for its implementation, operation and maintenance. PDMS, who also hold ISO9001 and ISO14001, were originally awarded certification to ISO27001 in 2005. Simon Edwards, Quality and Standards Manager at PDMS commented, &quot;We are very proud to be one of the first companies not only in the Isle of Man, but worldwide and in our industry, to have achieved this new certification. It demonstrates a company wide commitment to provide the best business processes for our clients, as well as our continued investment in remaining at the forefront of information security&quot;. Chris Gledhill, Managing Director at PDMS added, &quot;Achieving ISO 27001:2013 clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to security and protecting data. It gives our customers added confidence that their valuable information assets are secure with us. I would like to thank the team at PDMS for all their hard work in helping us to achieve this new certification&quot;.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:44:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3850
PDMS&#39;s employed.im seminar a success News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jul/pdmss-employedim-seminar-a-success/
The platform, which is currently used in the Isle of Man, connects students, job seekers, job changers, training providers and employers. Other guest speakers included the Manx Industrial Relations Service, Search and Select Recruitment and The Needle. You can find out more from our employed.im case study.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:40:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3848
PDMS&#39; Chris is elected to the techUK Public Services Board News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jul/pdms-chris-is-elected-to-the-techuk-public-services-board/
Chris joins a growing community of SME tech companies on the board, following an expression of interest invitation to all 350+ members. The aim of the Public Sector Board is to bring together senior leaders from the UK technology industry, to campaign and represent interests on behalf of the industry and to develop a campaign agenda ahead of the 2015 General Elections. The composition of the board includes a mixture of large, medium and small companies, ensuring that the views of the industry are fully represented. The Board&#39;s mission is also to enhance engagement with government and stakeholders and to demonstrate the high value of technology to the public sector. This will also include inspiring and fulfilling short term deliverables and supporting techUK. Commenting on the appointment Chris commented, &quot;I was really delighted to receive the news that I had been selected to the Public Services Board for techUK. It is a great honour to represent the wider industry in the UK and actively contribute to the programme&#39;s activities. I believe that we need to ensure that the relationships between the public sector, SME&#39;s and the larger suppliers and SI&#39;s are all properly aligned to ensure we are making the most of each parties respective capabilities and delivering both innovation and value for money.&quot; Board members will meet four times a year and will be involved in a contact programme for the position period, commencing in September 2014 until September 2015. PDMS would like to congratulate the other newly elected board members: Leon Tong (Director, BrightLemon), David Worsell (Director, GovDelivery Europe), Alastair Mitchell (CEO, Huddle), Roger Haddon (Managing Director, Knowledge Powered Solutions), Peter Robbins (Managing Director, Proband), Carlos Oliveira (Managing Director, Shaping Cloud) and Phil Dawson (CEO, Skyscape Cloud Services).Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:33:43 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3845
PDMS to present employed.im at IOM HR &amp; Recruitment Seminar News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jul/pdms-to-present-employedim-at-iom-hr-recruitment-seminar/
employed.im is the Isle of Man&#39;s free careers portal for students, job seekers, job changers and employers, as well as being a go-to resource for education and training opportunities. Having recently launched a video statement feature provided by The Needle, candidates can now record themselves answering interview style questions. Candidates can use this training tool to improve their interview technique by playing back their interview, or they can make it public to attract potential employers. The free breakfast seminar will provide information and insight into local HR resources and provide an excellent opportunity to network with peers and find out about developments in the industry, as well as meet with PDMS representatives. The event starts at 7.45am for registration with breakfast, tea and coffee with presentations commencing at 8.15am.&#160;Key topics for the event include: • What can employed.im do for you? An overview of the Island&#39;s skills portal from an employer&#39;s perspective - PDMS• Writing effective job adverts and listings - Search and Select• Supporting Isle of Man employers - An overview of the Manx Industrial Relations Service and how they can help you - Julie Bradley.• Video interviewing and recruitment - how video can help find the right people for your business - The Needle. The event will conclude with coffee and networking at 9.15am - 10.00am and all attendees will receive a 1 hour CPD certificate. High event numbers are expected - to book space for you and your colleagues or to find out more information, please email laura@employed.im or call Laura or Joanne on 664000.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:28:17 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3842
PDMS features in official IFB video News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jun/pdms-features-in-official-ifb-video/
Earlier this month PDMS, as part of the&#160;Isle of Man Maritime Group, hosted a series of informal networking sessions over two days for the International Festival of Business (IFB) in Liverpool.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:17:50 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3840
PDMS Maritime&#39;s IFB events with the IOM Maritime Group hailed a great success! News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jun/pdms-maritimes-ifb-events-with-the-iom-maritime-group-hailed-a-great-success/
The Festival, part of the Maritime, Logistics and Energy week, was opened by Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday 9th June is a six week long business programme aimed at promoting business in the North West and globally, to accelerate economic growth. The Isle of Man Maritime Group, compromising of thirteen forward thinking local maritime businesses and organisations, entertained guests on board the prestigious and historic Kathleen and May tall ship in the scenic Canning Dock, for a series of informal networking sessions and evening receptions aptly titled &#39;Cocktails in the Sails&#39; and &#39;Wine on the Waves&#39;. Guests enjoyed a magnificent open deck hog roast in the sunshine, accompanied by live music by local Manx band Barrule, with Manx cheese and seafood. The event also included a presentation from the Isle of Man SuperYacht Forum, entitled, &#39;Managing some of the World&#39;s Most Iconic and Valuable Assets&#39;. The aim of the event was to promote the Isle of Man as an international Maritime Centre of Excellence, to showcase the wide range of maritime and related services that the Isle of Man has to offer for global yachting and shipping and explore shared business opportunities. Attendance to the Groups events across the two days surpassed expectations and has been highly commended by both guests and the IFB organisers, featuring in the IFB&#39;s news &#39;Business Life on the Ocean Wave with the Isle of Man&#39;. Bruce McGregor, Director of PDMS Maritime commented, &quot;The turnout for our events was spectacular. The Kathleen and May tall ship could not have been a better venue for our maritime themed events and we were blessed with fantastic weather. The event really hit the mark in showcasing the maritime sector of the IOM at this International festival&quot; The Isle of Man has a long established history in the shipping sector and more recently the emergence of its super yacht industry has further enhanced the Island&#39;s profile in the global maritime sector. Not only is it home to one of the best quality ship registries in the world, but also features a wealth of maritime related services ranging from accountancy, fiduciary, banking and wealth services, through to crew and ship management, payroll and software. The Isle of Man Maritime Group was formed to help promote the Isle of Man as a hub of global maritime services -and its members have offices throughout the world with expertise far beyond the Irish Sea&quot;. Other members of the Isle of Man Maritime group include: Baker Tilly;&#160;Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement;&#160;Bibby Ship Management;&#160;Bibby Ship Travel;&#160;Boston Limited;&#160;Cayman National Bank and Trust Company (Isle of Man) Limited;&#160;D&#246;hle;&#160;ICM Group;&#160;i-Bos Ltd;&#160;Isle of Man Ship Registry;&#160;Isle of Man Shipping Association; the&#160;Isle of Man SuperYacht Forum&#160;and&#160;KPMG. The Group maintains close communications with the&#160;Department of Economic Development&#160;(DED), with respect to complementary activities. For more information or to get in contact with any of the Group members, please visit the Group&#39;s website&#160;www.iom-maritime.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:12:08 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3839
PDMS awarded G-Cloud 5 supplier status News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jun/pdms-awarded-g-cloud-5-supplier-status/
G-Cloud is a set of frameworks for the public sector to buy cloud-based services in a flexible and open way through the Digital Marketplace (previously known as the CloudStore). PDMS have been on all the previous iterations of the GCloud framework which was originally launched in 2012. In the latest iteration of the G-Cloud framework, PDMS continues to offer its core solutions in the following lots: Lot 3:&#160;Software As A Service (SaaS) DoxShare- for controlling and sharing key documents Maris- our international ship registry solution to manage vessels and seafarers Lot 4:&#160;Specialist Cloud Services (SCS) Software development -including agile development Foundations platform- reducing the risk of bespoke development Umbraco- a leading open source&#160;content management system, together with web design services. G-Cloud provides greater flexibility and freedom for government as departments and organisations can change service provider easily without lengthy procurement and implementation cycles, no &quot;lock-ins&quot; to long contracts and the freedom to quickly adopt better value and more current solutions. All government departments, devolved administrations, local authorities, wider public sector bodies and arm&#39;s length bodies are eligible to buy services on the Digital Marketplace. PDMS are also on the Digital Services Framework (DSf) enabling the public sector to commission agile software development capabilities to help design and build bespoke digital services.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:57:21 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3836
PDMS Maritime to host Maritime Events at the IFB News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jun/pdms-maritime-to-host-maritime-events-at-the-ifb/
PDMS Maritime will be hosting informal maritime networking events and exclusive evening receptions with the Isle of Man Maritime Group 11-12 June in Liverpool, on board the Kathleen and May tall ship, as part of the Maritime, Logistics and Energy Week of the International Festival of Business 2014. To find out more and to view full event details please click here. Follow @PDMSmaritime on Twitter for the latest updates and event coverage! Watch the IFB 2014 Official Video.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:54:58 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3834
PDMS&#39; Lost Property system takes off at Aberdeen Airport News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/may/pdms-lost-property-system-takes-off-at-aberdeen-airport/
Aberdeen Airport recorded its busiest year in 2013, boasting 3.48 million passengers, and is now seeking to improve its customer service with the help of PDMS. Fraser Bain is one of the Airport Duty Managers, and has led on the new initiative. He said: &quot;We were clear in our objective this year to make the lost property process in Aberdeen as user-friendly and efficient as possible. As such this is a very welcome partnership with PDMS. It allows us to use our website more effectively in the lost property process and makes the whole system much faster. Embracing new technology is an important part of our Customer Charter commitments and it is great to be able to use technology for the benefit of our customers.&quot; The software enables airport visitors to log a description of their lost item and airport staff to quickly log found items. Once the lost description is matched to the found item, airport staff organise an effective way of returning the item to its owner. The process will save valuable time and greatly improve customer service. Bain said he was keen to work with Scottish Enterprise funded PDMS with the main aim of improving the service for the airports passengers. Speaking about PDMS, Bain said, &quot;They share our vision of getting business and operational benefits from technology.&quot; PDMS, who have a track record in lost property solutions, are using their experience at Aberdeen International Airport to further refine their software to ensure if fully meets the needs of both regional and international airports. Giles Milner, who is heading up PDMS&#39; development of the software, said, &quot;Airports are amongst the most difficult places to reunite lost items to their owners. Some airports have multiple lost property departments located all around the airport. Our software simplifies the whole process, creating one single online lost and found portal.&quot; PDMS are currently looking to expand the provision of their lost property software to a range of other customers. Milner commented &quot;We believe our lost property solution could help a wide range of sectors including airlines, rail operators and taxi companies, to reduce the administration overheads involved in recording and returning lost property and more importantly, improving their customer service&quot; Sales Director of PDMS, David Stickland, said, &quot;I&#39;d like to thank Aberdeen International Airport for their support with this new initiative and we are confident that our lost property solution will be of benefit to both the airport and its visitors.&quot;Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:49:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3831
PDMS launches Glasgow Office! News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/apr/pdms-launches-glasgow-office/
Angela Constance, Minster for Youth Employment and Allan Bell, Chief Minister of the Isle and Man were all in attendance as we discussed our plans for expansion and the creation of 20 new jobs in Scotland. Our launch followed on from the meeting, at Glasgow International Airport, between Chief Minister of the&#160;Isle of Man, Allan Bell and First Minister, Alex Salmond in which they announced the restoration of flights between Scotland and the Isle of Man, highlighting PDMS as a prime example of the type of business that would benefit. Salmond said, &quot;I am delighted to welcome PDMS to Scotland - a company that comes to us highly recommended by the Isle of Man Government, with an excellent reputation for innovation and enterprise ICT.&quot; &quot;With &#163;160,000 of support and assistance from Scottish Enterprise, PDMS has invested in Scotland to grow their business globally to further develop and support PDMS&#39;s software development and managed services business.&quot; &quot;PDMS has chosen an office space at The Hub, situated in the centre of Glasgow&#39;s Digital Media Quarter to make the most of our high quality skilled workforce and are committed to creating 20 jobs in Scotland over the next 4 years.&quot; David Stickland, Sales Director of PDMS, began the evening launch event by highlighting how happy he was that PDMS had finally arrived in Scotland and thanked the efforts of Scottish Enterprise. Stickland said, &quot;There is a fantastic synergy between the Isle of Man and Scotland in regards to the level of support given to local and new businesses.&quot; PDMS is already working with a number of Scottish Clients including the David MacBrayne Group in Gourock, LifeSkills Central Ltd in Hamilton, the Youth Community Support Agency and Aberdeen Airport. Expansion of services throughout Scotland has resulted in the creation of new jobs and a training platform, Employed Scotland. Chief Minister of the&#160;Isle of Man, Allan Bell, who was in Scotland to announce the reinstatement of flights between Glasgow and the Isle of Man, praised PDMS&#39;s commitment to innovation and business. &quot;PDMS have come of age this year - 21 years old! They are now over 60 staff members strong and are the number one ICT provider on the Isle of Man, working closely with local government. The employment platform that PDMS have developed has greatly helped the Isle of Man&#39;s employment figures and will undoubtedly help Glasgow in the future.&quot; Chris Gledhill, MD of PDMS, said &quot;It&#39;s incredibly beneficial to be close to our customers and that&#39;s why we intend to build a significant team here in Scotland. PDMS believes in fully engaging with the community in which we work. We are committed to creating secure high quality jobs and high standards of training. We are absolutely overwhelmed by the welcome we have received in Scotland. I am convinced that by building up our services here we can make a genuine contribution to development of the ICT sector as a driver for growth and prosperity.&quot; Angela Constance, Minister for Youth Employment, praised the announcement highlighting in particular the announcement of new jobs and the employability portal. &quot;It is great to be here at the launch of PDMS&#39;s new facility, here in the heart of Glasgow&#39;s Digital Quarter. PDMS has experienced substantial growth in software, IOS, marketing and sales and will provided fantastic opportunities in these positions - all high quality employment roles.&quot; &quot;Scotland, despite having 8% of UK&#39;s population attracts over 16% inward investment; this launch highlights that ability to attract inward investment. The ITC and Digital Tech sector contribute over 3 billion pounds to the economy and create 75,000 jobs in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. &quot; Alex Salmond, First Minister said, &quot;As a company committed to exporting products and services around the world,&#160;PDMS is&#160;exactly the type of business we welcome to Scotland. I would like to thank them for their determination to make a significant contribution to the Scottish ICT sector and wish them all the best in their endeavours.&quot; You can read the Isle of Man Government&#39;s press release on the launch here&#160;and watch our video coverage by Make Me&#160;A Film on our&#160;YouTube&#160;channel.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:44:47 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3828
PDMS Maritime joins Isle of Man Maritime Group News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/mar/pdms-maritime-joins-isle-of-man-maritime-group/
Organisations from the Isle of Man maritime sector have come together, ahead of the International Festival of Business 2014 (&quot;IFB 2014&quot;), to form the &#39;Isle of Man Maritime&#39; group. The aim of the group is to consolidate efforts in promoting the Isle of Man as a centre of excellence for the maritime sector on an international level, and to explore shared opportunities, with a focus around the upcoming high profile IFB 2014 event. The group, which is managed by its own steering committee is meeting regularly to discuss opportunities for market collaboration and resource co-operation. The Isle of Man Maritime group will shortly be announcing its first co-ordinated IFB event during the Maritime, Logistics and Energy themed week, June 9th to 13th in Liverpool. The aim of the IFB is to accelerate economic growth with an ambitious programme of over 100 themed global business events with a target audience of 250,000 business professionals and advisors from over 125 countries. The eventual target is to assist in doubling the UK&#39;s exports by 2020. The Isle of Man Maritime group has chartered the prestigious and distinctive schooner Kathleen and May in Liverpool docks for 11th and 12th June to host a series of presentations and informal events attracting a global audience. Members of the Isle of Man Maritime group include Baker Tilly, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, Bibby Ship Management, Boston Limited, Cayman National Bank and Trust Company (Isle of Man) Limited, D&#246;hle, ICM Group, i-Bos Ltd, Isle of Man Ship Registry, Isle of Man Shipping Association, the Isle of Man Yacht Forum, KPMG, Maersk and PDMS. The group is also continuing to maintain close communication with the Department of Economic Development (DED), with respect to complementary activities between the group and the DED at IFB 2014. If your organisation would like to find out more information about IFB 2014, please get in contact via email to ifb2014@iom-maritime.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:30:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3826
PDMS welcome new team members News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/feb/pdms-welcome-new-team-members/
Ashley Christian join the PDMS team as an Infrastructure Technician working on large client projects. Ashley has a strong background in electronics engineering and previously worked at Moore Stephens as an IT Technician. Ashley is also currently studying towards further qualifications at the Isle of Man College. Abrie Le Roux also joins PDMS as an Infrastructure Technician working on internal and client projects after nine years at Argon Technologies as a Senior Technical Consultant. Abrie leads an active family life with his wife and son. PDMS&#39;s new Marketing Executive is Laura Faulds, whose role will involve supporting the growth of the business through market opportunities and marketing campaigns. Laura joins from a marketing and HR background in the financial services sector, and also currently enjoys running her own online fashion business. Helen Hobday has taken up the role of Office Executive and Personal Assistant to PDMS&#39; Managing Director and joins from a recruitment background in consulting and office administration. In her spare time Helen is the Unit Leader of Anagh Coar Rainbows and is Vice Chairperson for Ballacottier Primary School Friends Association. Managing Director Chris Gledhill commented, &quot;I am delighted to welcome Ashley, Abrie, Laura and Helen to the team at PDMS. Our ability to attract and retain the best people for our team is crucial to our continued success and growth.&quot; PDMS are currently recruiting for a Software Developer and a Support Analyst. For more information about these roles with information about how to apply, please visit www.pdms.com/company/careers.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:26:15 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3823
Cheque Presentation for Local Charities News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jan/cheque-presentation-for-local-charities/
&quot;We wanted to mark this milestone in the company&#39;s history with a special celebration - one that not only left us with happy memories shared with clients and suppliers but also enabled us as a company to give back something to the community that we have been a part of on the Isle of Man for the past 20 years,&quot; said managing director Chris Gledhill. PDMS rounded up the sum raised on the night so that 10 Isle of Man charities each received &#163;1,100. The charities, which were all nominated by PDMS staff, were: Save the Children, Housingmatters Isle of Man, Craig&#39;s Heartstrong Foundation, SportErin, Victim Support Isle of Man, Hyperbaric Chamber, Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Rebecca House, The Children&#39;s Centre and Southern Befrienders. The celebration, which was months in the planning, ran into a last-minute glitch when the venue had to be changed to The Place Hotel after the fire at the Mount Murray Hotel. &quot;We would like to thank everyone involved in making the event such a success, especially those very supportive local companies who provided some great raffle prizes and auction items,&quot; said Mr Gledhill. Over the past two decades, PDMS has donated more than &#163;250,000 to local causes and provided &#163;250,000 worth of services in kind. Pictured at the handover of the commemorative cheques are, from left: Mike Bromwich - PDMSJuana Warburton- The Children&#39;s CentreVaughn Paddock - Sport ErinLorna Terevethan - Southern BefriendersPaula Lunt- Craig&#39;s Heartstrong FoundationDean Cooke - Friends of the Hyperbaric ChamberJohn Cuddy- Save the ChildrenNeal Mellon - Housingmatters Front row (left to right) Katie Nicholson - PDMSSue Cook- Junior AchievementTerri Cook - Rebecca House HospicePaula Gelling - Victim Support Isle of ManChris Gledhill - PDMSJoanne Pontee - PDMS For more information: John Sherrocks 404965 Joanne Pontee, PDMS 664000Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:18:21 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3818
New Police FAQ App News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/dec/new-police-faq-app/
The innovative app, which was developed for the Police National Legal Database (PNLD), provides users with information on a wide variety of non-emergency policing issues, ranging from &#39;What is the law relating to clamping?&#39; to &#39;I&#39;ve knocked over an animal, do I have to report it?&#39; Free to download, the apps pull information from PNLD&#39;s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) portal database system (www.askthe.police.uk) which was developed by PDMS in 2005. Based&#160;on a non-emergency call lasting on average 4 minutes, it is calculated that the FAQ service saves police call handlers over 400,000 hours a year, which equates to an estimated annual saving of &#163;6 million. The apps contain accurate, legally verified answers to over 700 of the questions most frequently asked by the public across England and Wales, with an additional 450 answers to questions relating to specific Police Forces. Even since the launch of the non-emergency 101 number, the police continue to receive thousands of calls, which whilst important, are time consuming with most concerning routine aspects of criminal law and police procedures. Many of these questions will in the past have been repeated hundreds of times over - simply because members of the public did not have another route to the relevant information. The FAQ service runs on PDMS&#39; FoundationsTM platform. Each police force has the facility to add local information, which can be viewed by selecting a specific force or individual location prior to accessing the question bank. Questions and answers are added&#160;and updated frequently and the &#39;Question of the Day&#39; and &#39;Latest News&#39; features provide topical information. Should the information the user is seeking, not be included within the site, an &#39;ask a question&#39; facility provides the opportunity to find the answer from the PNLD which could result in the Q and A being added to its content. The site has been designed to be as intuitive and easy to use as possible, with alphabetical and subject listings, a comprehensive search facility, and the ability to rate each individual question in terms of usefulness. The launch of the FAQ iPhone and Android apps are the latest of a number of new additions to the innovative FAQ project. Other developments include the launch of Ask the Police Scotland (www.askthe.scottish.police.uk) and an API (application programming interface) which allows individual police forces to seamlessly integrate the FAQ portal into their own websites. PDMS and PNLD have collaborated on a number of projects over the past decade.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:11:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3815
Introducing employed.im News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/nov/introducing-employedim/
A new website designed to be a one-stop shop for careers and employment on the Isle of Man has been launched this week. employed.im provides guidance on career related issues for anybody seeking advice, from students and school leavers through to people considering a mid-career change or a return to work. Members can also use the website to manage their CV&#39;s, application forms and connect to potential employers. employed.im builds on the success of PDMS&#39; Manx Graduates website, which went live in 2009 with the primary goal of encouraging graduates to return to the Isle of Man. However, that site attracted as many experienced professionals as it did newly qualified university students. &#39;The wide profile of its users rendered the site&#39;s name something of a misnomer,&#39; explained Chris Gledhill, managing director of software company PDMS which developed the website. &#39;So, in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Education and Children, we decided earlier this year to redesign the site to considerably broaden its scope.&#39; The easy-to-navigate employed.im site will also serve as a networking portal for students, job seekers and employers. &#39;employed.im is designed for its members and serves the combined interests of employers, students, job seekers and government agencies equally. Built on a secure platform it can be used to establish lasting relationships. A place to start an ongoing conversation about your career,&#39; said Mr Gledhill. &#39;It has been designed to be of use to anyone interested in employment and training in the Isle of Man - be they a graduate seeking a new job or anyone wanting to improve their employability skills.&#39; &#39;Companies and organisations in the Isle of Man are always on the lookout for talented, ambitious people - employed.im will enable them to match potential employees with available positions.&#39; &#39;School leavers will be able to find out about the world of work, get tips on job hunting and will soon, also be able to source the best places in the island to get work experience.&#39; Members can post their CV on the site and receive notifications on jobs that match their profile. With employed.im we can quickly and easily put application or other related forms online - key information from a member&#39;s profile will automatically be added to the form, saving valuable time and effort. Members can also save and store their own personal copy of these forms. The site, which will carry job adverts from local employers, will also become a gateway for training opportunities in the Isle of Man. &#39;It will be the first port of call for people looking to make a career change, get back into the workplace after a career break or get on the first rung of the career ladder,&#39; said Mr Gledhill. The project has also been developed in close consultation with the Employability Group, a government and cross-sector industry group, set up to help prepare young people for the world of work. Annette Baker, chair of the group, commented, &#39;Feedback from last year&#39;s Employability Conference confirmed that there was an urgent need for easily accessible, up to date information on careers, jobs and work experience opportunities on the Isle of Man. We are delighted at the launch of employed.im in this new format, which we feel has the potential to provide excellent support for students, teachers, employers and indeed anyone who is looking at developing their own career or the career of others&#39;. Laurence Skelly, MHK, Political Member for the Department of Economic Development commented, &quot;The Department of Economic Development has worked closely with PDMS to ensure that Employed.im supports the important work of the Job Centre, Careers Advisors and Training Services. This is an excellent opportunity for joined-up working between Government and the private sector in order to support job seekers and those wanting careers advice or training opportunities. We look forward to continuing to work with PDMS as this important initiative develops.&quot; Further enhancements are planned in the coming months, including video profiles for members and the ability for employers to carry out video interviews; a feature developed in collaboration with another local company - the Needle Online.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:06:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3813
PDMS’ Managing Director shortlisted for Business Person of the Year Award News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/nov/pdms-managing-director-shortlisted-for-business-person-of-the-year-award/
During the past 18 months, Chris has devoted a great deal of time, energy and enthusiasm into helping develop the Island&#39;s ICT sector, both locally on the Isle of Man and further afield. Chris is passionate about the impact ICT can have on the competitiveness and growth of businesses and is keen to ensure that the Isle of Man can compete, particularly when it comes to attracting the best people to work here, in the global market. The Isle of Man Awards for Excellence highlight success stories from within our island community, the team at PDMS are looking forward to attending the awards ceremony which is taking place on the 21st&#160;November. PDMS client Manx Gas has also been shortlisted in the &#39;Company of the Year&#39; category. We would like to wish both Chris and Manx Gas the very best of luck!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:00:38 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3810
Launch of new PDMS Maritime website News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/sep/launch-of-new-pdms-maritime-website/
PDMS works with a number of leading maritime organisations including the Isle of Man Registry, The Bahamas Maritime Authority and the Cayman Maritime Authority. We have a specialist maritime team who work in partnership with ship registries and maritime authorities to help them drive their businesses forward. Please take a look at www.pdmsmaritime.com and let us know what you think - we&#39;d really value your feedback.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 13:55:54 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3806
PDMS to attend 2013 Monaco Yacht Show News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/oct/pdms-to-attend-2013-monaco-yacht-show/
The 2013 Monaco Yacht Show&#160;takes place from the 25th&#160;to the 28th&#160;September in the principality of Monaco and will showcase over 500 exhibitors who will be attending from over 36 countries along with over 100 superyachts. PDMS have recently created a dedicated Maritime team with a focus on working with a number of clients, ranging from International ship registries through to ship management companies. Our maritime team is developing an insight into some of the issues and challenges faced by the sector, and are putting this domain knowledge to good use through the software we develop, to help our clients work more efficiently and competitively whilst also delivering a better service to their clients. PDMS have designed and built a complete solution for International ship registries, named &quot;MARIS&quot; (Marine Administration &amp;amp; Registry Information System). If you would like to find out more about MARIS please&#160;take a look at our&#160;latest MARIS&#160;brochure&#160;or MARIS overview schematic. If you are in Monaco and would like to arrange a meeting with Bruce McGregor, PDMS Director, to discuss MARIS, or any other software requirements you may have, please email&#160;bruce.mcgregor@pdms.com and he will be more than happy to arrange for a meeting or informal chat.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 13:51:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3802
PDMS appointment in Scotland News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/jan/pdms-appointment-in-scotland/
There are a number of interesting new initiatives happening in relation to public sector IT in Scotland, including the SWAN (Scottish Wide Area Network) programme. SWAN aims to deliver a single, holistic public services network to enable infrastructure and service sharing. PDMS recently attended an informative conference in Edinburgh to find out more about the SWAN programme and how we could get involved. The G-Cloud framework which allows public sector organisations to purchase cloud-based software and services, quickly and easily, is also available to Scottish based institutions. We appreciate that the G-Cloud framework is a whole new approach to purchasing technology services and solutions and we are setting up a number of meetings to help inform people about the many benefits of purchasing software through the CloudStore (now known as the&#160;Digital Marketplace&#160;effective October 2014). With an interest in the criminal justice sector, we are also closely following developments in relation to the new single Scottish police force (Police Scotland will come into force in April 2013). As a technology partner to PNLD (Police National Legal Database) we have developed a Scottish version of the popular Ask the Police portal. www.askthe.scottish.police.uk&#160;provides answers to hundreds of frequently asked questions, helping to reduce the number of non-emergency calls to the police. If you are based in Scotland, we would welcome the opportunity to find out more about the issues your business is facing and how we could help. To arrange a meeting with Dave Stickland, our representative in Scotland, please&#160;contact us.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:38:30 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3797
Celebrating 20 years News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/feb/celebrating-20-years/
Our anniversary coincides with Pancake Day so to mark the occasion we celebrated with pancakes instead of cake. Back in 1993 the company was pretty much a 2 man band, originally set up to provide organisations with IT consultancy services around data management. Today the company has grown into a successful software company delivering online business systems to customers in the Isle of Man, the UK and as far afield as the Bahamas. The technology industry has changed significantly over the last 20 years but PDMS has plotted a steady course, navigating the many ups and downs ranging from the rapid growth of the Internet and the burst of the dot.com bubble to the ascendancy of mobile devices and the rise of cloud computing. The shape and size of the company has, of course, evolved but most of the original founders still play an active role in the day to day management of the company and one of PDMS&#39; very first developers, hired in 1995, still works for us today! Many of our clients have also accompanied us on our journey - we still work with our first major website client (1995) and we&#39;ve been working with over 60% of our clients for between 5 and 10 years. Looking back over the past 20 years the principles that guided the business from the very beginning - to help organisations successfully use IT to deliver real business outcomes - still holds true. Here&#39;s looking forward to the next 20 years!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:37:06 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3796
Cattle Passport System gives confidence to consumers of Manx Beef Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/feb/cattle-passport-system-gives-confidence-to-consumers-of-manx-beef/
In the Isle of Man, farmers have to adhere to strict rules to ensure full traceability. BITS (The Bovine Information and Tracking System), developed by PDMS for the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, ensures that each calf is issued with it&#39;s own passport containing a unique number that stays with the animal right up to the butcher receiving it as a carcase. The system generates a unique six digit number which is printed on to ear tags and then inserted into the cows ears shortly after they are born. Every movement of the animal, for example if it was sold on to another farm, is noted in the passport. The system was originally created to provide a safeguard in the event of an outbreak of a disease (such as Foot and Mouth which blighted the UK in 2007), so that every movement of an animal could be easily and quickly traced. However, in light of the current horse meat scandal, the system helps to give consumers confidence that Manx Beef is really what it says on the label! For more information, please see our&#160;BITS case study.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:34:21 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3794
PDMS moves into Glasgow&#39;s Hub News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/apr/pdms-moves-into-glasgows-hub/
The Hub (www.thehub-pacificquay.com/) is situated in Pacific Quay, the home to several of Scotland&#39;s most iconic buildings and media organisations. Scottish Enterprise (www.scottish-enterprise.com/) work with businesses across Scotland to stimulate economic growth and improve the business environment. The organisation has been of great assistance to PDMS, offering support, guidance and information on doing business in Scotland. David Stickland PDMS&#39; Consultant in Scotland commented &#39;The assistance that we have received from Scottish Enterprise has been fantastic. It has been an incredibly refreshing experience, the team at Scottish Enterprise in particular; Donna MacKenzie, Business services Manager at The Hub and Colette McBride, Scottish Enterprise have been extremely helpful in offering support and guidance on how to work within the Scottish Public sector&#39;. PDMS staff are looking forward to attending the official opening of the Creative Clyde Business Incubation Centre at The Hub on the 2nd&#160;of May. PDMS have also become members of Scotland IS&#160;(www.scotlandis.com), the trade body for Scotland&#39;s ICT industry which represents around 200 software, telecoms, IT and creative technologies businesses throughout Scotland. If you are based in Scotland, we would welcome the opportunity to find out more about the issues your business is facing and how we could help. To arrange a meeting with David Stickland please&#160;contact us.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:32:19 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3792
PDMS to Exhibit at Technology Scotland News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/jun/pdms-to-exhibit-at-technology-scotland/
The event is expected to attract many hundreds of industry professionals, representing a diverse range of technologies, who will come together to see what Scotland has to offer, to network and to explore opportunities for international business development. Neil Francis, director of technologies for Scottish Enterprise which is organising the event on behalf of the industry said: &quot;Scotland&#39;s Technology Show will bring businesses together to learn more about new and emerging market opportunities, Scotland&#39;s capabilities in addressing these opportunities, to share best practice and to establish new contacts and networks. Giles Milner PDMS Director commented &quot;We are really pleased to be exhibiting at Technology Scotland and looking forward to the opportunity to develop our presence in Scotland&quot;. If you are attending the exhibition and would like to arrange a meeting with Giles Milner please email giles.milner@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:30:08 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3791
New milestone for Isle of Man Government&#39;s Online Services News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/jun/new-milestone-for-isle-of-man-governments-online-services/
The Isle of Man Government&#39;s Online Services have reached another milestone, processing in excess of &#163;500M of payments since their introduction in 2007. Payments made using Online Services during 2012/2013 continued to show strong growth and accounted for over 40% of the Government&#39;s revenue, an increase of 37% on 2011/2012. Additionally the number of transactions made through Online Services during 2012/2013, including payments, rose to nearly 140,000, an increase of 37% on 2011/2012. Online Services have generated cost savings for the Government - 6 additional staff at a cost of over &#163;100,000 would have been required to process this volume of payments via traditional means. PDMS continue to work as part of the larger OneMann team within the Isle of Man Government to help deliver common shared services and online payments.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:27:06 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3790
ITIL Service Management Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jul/itil-service-management/
As we have grown we now have many more systems under support, so it makes sense to have a dedicated team who can continue to provide the excellent service our clients have come to expect, without the associated interruptions to projects which can threaten deadlines. Having been appointed Support Manager I felt the need to look into more formal approaches, which might be useful alongside the many years&#39; experience encompassed by the support team. As a lot of our work is for government clients throughout the British Isles I decided to look at the&#160;ITIL&#174; Service Management Framework, as it was originally devised by the UK Government for its own internal Service Management processes. I am naturally sceptical about any documented set of standards and procedures, as past experience suggests that they can be unduly prescriptive and unrealistic in a busy &#39;real-world&#39; environment. (Although PDMS have already realised many benefits from our adoption of the ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 27001 (Information Security) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) standards). The fact that the ITIL&#174; Service Management Framework consists of 5 weighty volumes, running to several hundred pages each, did nothing to reassure me. Not wanting to judge a book (or 5 books!) by its cover I decided to study for the ITIL&#174; Service Management Foundation examination, in order to encourage me to really investigate the content and to provide a concrete benefit in the form of a qualification from the analysis, even if we decided not to adopt any of the Framework recommendations. Several months down the line, and now the proud holder of the ITIL&#174; Service Management Foundation qualification, I am surprised and pleased to report that the whole process was quite enjoyable and that the framework has a lot to offer any software supplier or internal IT department. Unlike many other such &#39;frameworks&#39; ITIL&#174; really is non-prescriptive. It provides the user with a set of tools that they can use as and when needed and from which the most useful items can be selected. The complete framework consists of: ITIL&#174; Service Strategy - how to decide and define the overall IT strategy for an organisation and work out what should be in the &#39;Service Portfolio&#39; - the list of services you provide. This is proving invaluable at PDMS, as we are always looking to provide new and innovative services to our clients and this framework helps us to ensure that we are providing services that provide real business benefits to both our clients and ourselves. ITIL&#174; Service Design - once you have decided what you want to offer this guides you through the process of designing the exact services you intend to offer, including technology, people and finance. ITIL&#174; Service Transition - moving your services into live operation. ITIL&#174; Service Operation - running your services once they are live. ITIL&#174; Continual Service Improvement - ensuring that your services continue to improve and that you understand exactly the status and value of every service throughout its lifecycle. Using our new-found ITIL&#174; knowledge, and the many years of practical experience of supporting diverse clients and systems, we hope that we can deliver new and innovative services to our clients, becoming genuine partners in their business, rather than just their software supplier. If you would like any more information about PDMS and the services we could provide for your business, including &#39;Serviceplus&#39;, in which PDMS will look after the administration of your business system or website and its users, keeping the content fresh, relevant, interesting and secure, freeing you from day to day administration to concentrate on your business, please contact us at supportteam@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:24:07 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3788
PDMS&#39; Big Birthday Bash News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/sep/pdms-big-birthday-bash/
This year we have passed the milestone of 20 years in business and to celebrate this achievement we are holding a special fundraising event, on 9th November at the Mount Murray Hotel, in aid of ten local charities. Our 20th&#160;Anniversary black tie dinner promises to be a great evening, with a three course dinner and live entertainment provided by the brilliant&#160;Retrospect&#160;band. PDMS are sponsoring the evening and we are aiming to raise as much as possble to be distributed amongst our ten chosen charities. Save the Children Housingmatters Isle of Man Craig&#39;s Heartstrong Foundation SportErin Victim Support Isle of Man Hyperbaric Chamber Junior Achievement Isle of Man Rebecca House The Children&#39;s Centre Southern Befrienders Our Big Birthday Bash provides a great corporate hospitality opportunity for your clients or staff, whilst helping local charities at the same time. You can purchase individual tickets for &#163;65 or a table for 10 at the discounted cost of &#163;600. We do hope that you&#39;ll be able to join us for what promises to be a great evening.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:20:42 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3787
PDMS&#39; 20th Birthday Bash News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/nov/pdms-20th-birthday-bash/
On the day itself (12th February) which just happened to be Shrove Tuesday, we decided to mark the occasion by celebrating with some yummy pancakes. A few short weeks passed and we decided that we wanted to do something special, something that would not only leave us with some happy memories but would also give back to community that we have been a part of on the Isle of Man for the last 20 years. It was decided that we would host a black tie charity dinner and all monies raised would go directly to ten local charities - all nominated by PDMS staff. This way we could celebrate with our friends, suppliers and clients. We set a date for the 9th of November and started making preparations, we confirmed the location to be The Mount Murray Hotel and were delighted that the band, Retrospect, were able to play at our event as we had heard rave reviews! The weeks flew by, tickets sold quickly and some very kind and supportive local companies provided us with some great raffle prizes and auction items. On the Thursday morning, two days before the event was due to take place I was busy typing out table plans and place names when I noticed on twitter that the IOM Fire Service had tweeted that they were dealing with a fire at Mount Murray. A colleague pointed out that you could see a huge cloud of smoking coming from the direction of the hotel towards the business park. Within a few minutes the phone started ringing, it then carried on ringing for the rest of the day. We soon realised that the fire was very serious and by the end of the day it was confirmed that our event would not be able to go ahead at the Mount Murray. This was extremely disappointing for us but we were just relieved that no one at the hotel had been seriously injured. Luckily for us the events team we had been working with at the hotel were extremely helpful and had already been in contact with The Palace Hotel. After a couple of manic hours and a last minute meeting with the team at The Palace, it was confirmed that they would be able to host our event. Relieved was not the word! Saturday evening rolled around and everything was set. Candy at Finishing Touches had done a brilliant job of decorating The Cushag Suite and the team at The Palace did a fantastic job of organising everything at the very last minute. The food was great and Retrospect provided us and our guests with superb entertainment. My favourite part of the evening had to be watching the &#39;previous generation&#39; strutting their stuff on the dance floor! Judging from the emails in my inbox on Monday morning, I think it is fair to say that everyone had a fantastic time. We have managed to raise in excess of &#163;10,000 and are still waiting for some auction money to come in. A huge thank you to all our guests that joined us on the evening, those who donated prizes and everyone who helped us pull the evening together, we couldn&#39;t have done it without you, Happy 20th Birthday PDMS!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:12:03 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3784
PDMS&#39; Chris Gledhill wins Business Person of the Year Award News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/nov/pdms-chris-gledhill-wins-business-person-of-the-year-award/
Many congratulations to Chris, our MD, who took home the Celton Manx &#39;Business Person of the Year&#39; award at the 2013 Awards for Excellence on Thursday 21st November - in recognition of his efforts to help promote the development of the ICT sector on the Isle of Man. We were also delighted for our client, Manx Gas, who won the &#39;Company of the Year&#39; award. The awards were hosted by Hugh Dennis and a really great night was had by all.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:02:32 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3778
PDMS&#39; visit to the Scottish Parliament News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/mar/pdms-visit-to-the-scottish-parliament/
In the morning they met with Margaret McCulloch MSP, Gerry Croall from&#160;life SKILLS&#160;Scotland and Arthur McIvor who is the Chief Executive of the&#160;Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange, to discuss PDMS and the various links between Scotland and the Isle of Man. Pictured left to right: Gerry Croall, David Stickland, Margaret McCulloch and Chris Gledhill. Following their meeting, Chris and David were able to attend the First Minister&#39;s questions and have a quick tour of the&#160;Scottish Parliament. To finish off the day Chris and David observed a Cross Party Group discussion on skills and development with a view to being involved in the next discussion. &quot;It was a great day and we had some very good discussions around PDMS and how we can serve Scotland in a similar vein to the way we have served the Isle of Man for the past 20 years&quot;, David said.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 11:08:19 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3776
PDMS to attend Holyrood&#39;s 4th Annual Cloud Computing Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/aug/pdms-to-attend-holyroods-4th-annual-cloud-computing-conference/
The conference will provide a unique opportunity to contextualise the issue of Cloud uptake within Scotland&#39;s public sector. The event will bring together the leading stakeholders to showcase new technologies and services, and engage in a meaningful assessment of the measurable value of Cloud. A series of informative plenary presentations and case studies will consider the use of Cloud technology in practice, highlighting both the benefits offered and the challenges faced. The event will also provide an open forum for delegates to discuss their views with leading experts and policy makers, and debate the role of Cloud computing within Scotland&#39;s Digital Future. PDMS will be represented at the event by Giles Milner, Commercial Director and David Stickland, Head of Scottish Operations. PDMS is an approved supplier on the UK Government&#39;s&#160;G-Cloud Framework. The G-Cloud is the UK Government&#39;s programme to support the UK public sector&#39;s adoption of cloud-based services. PDMS offer a&#160;range of solutions and services on the G-Cloud iii Framework.&#160;These include: Controlled Document Portal -&#160;for controlling and sharing key documents Software development -&#160;we offer a variety of commercial models Foundations platform -&#160;our cost-effective development platform - reduces the risk of bespoke development. Umbraco -&#160;a leading open source&#160;content management system, together with web design services. UCommerce&#160;- a flexible e-commerce solution for any organisation that needs a transactional shop front We&#39;ve helped many&#160;public sector clients&#160;solve a wide range of issues from moving services online to helping them deliver more with less. If you would like to arrange a meeting with Giles or David please email&#160;david.stickland@pdms.com&#160;or&#160;giles.milner@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:59:22 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3773
Introducing DoxShare News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/oct/introducing-doxshare/
We decided that DoxShare better reflected the core attributes our product which allows you to securely share and control your organisation&#39;s key documents. We&#39;ve also just released version 2.1 which includes a number of new features such as: automatic virus-checking of uploaded documents, the ability to turn off email notifications for individual users, and the ability to filter/search documents to show all those that the individual user has not yet read (not downloaded). The latest release also provides a number of enhancements to give DoxShare administrators more control. They can now: switch between different colour schemes/ themes for the system, create custom fields to describe unique document features and so enhance the filtering/ searching of documents,download all documents in the system in a zip file, and delete all the contents in the system (&#39;offboard&#39; from the service). If you are interested in DoxShare find out more here, or alternatively why not contact us for a no obligation, free trial.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:59:07 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3771
PDMS joins AELP News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/may/pdms-joins-aelp/
The&#160;Association of Employment and Learning Providers&#160;(AELP) is the leading trade association for vocational learning and employment providers in Britain. PDMS have recently launched PDMS Employed, an online platform to help connect organisations with an interest in skills and employment. It is a ready-to-use platform which supports both central and local government efforts to improve youth engagement. We are currently working with a number of organisations including learning and welfare to work providers to further develop the platform. Representatives from PDMS will be attending two forthcoming AELP events - the&#160;Youth Employment Convention 2014, taking place in London on the 13th and 14th May and&#160;AELP&#39;s National Conference&#160;on the 2nd and 3rd June. If you&#39;d like to meet up with us at either of these events or would like more information about PDMS Employed, please&#160;get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:56:31 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3770
PDMS features in the Financial Times News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/may/pdms-features-in-the-financial-times/
The Financial Times article showcases the&#160;the strength and diversity of the Island&#39;s business community and the sectors that have contributed to 30 years of unbroken economic growth. PDMS&#39; Chris Gledhill is quoted in an article about the growth of the ICT sector on the Island. To read a copy of the FT&#39;s Special Report - please download a pdf copy from&#160;Isle of Man Where You Can. It was also great to see that the report featured both the Isle of Man&#39;s Ship Registry and Aircraft Registry. PDMS have been working closely with the Isle of Man Ship Registry for many years, developing the online system (MARIS&#160;) which helps to manage the Registry&#39;s business. We are also now working with the Island&#39;s successful Aircraft Registry on a project to deliver a new online aircraft registry system. Chris Gledhill will be presenting on the topic of online aircraft registries at this year&#39;s&#160;Isle of Man Aviation Conference.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:53:30 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3767
PDMS to present on their Employed platform at the International Festival of Business News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/may/pdms-to-present-on-their-employed-platform-at-the-international-festival-of-business/
The International Festival of Business&#160;(IFB) is a global business event, taking place in the UK, Liverpool throughout June and July, with a target audience of 250,000 business professionals and advisors from over 125 countries. The Festival is supported by the UK Government and aims to promote business in the North West and accelerate economic growth with an ambitious programme of over 250 themed global business events. PDMS Employed PDMS have recently launched PDMS Employed, which is an online platform to help connect organisations with an interest in skills and employment. It is a ready-to-use platform which supports both central and local government efforts to improve youth engagement. We are currently working with a number of organisations including learning and welfare to work providers to further develop the platform. Breakfast Event Topics Why the Isle of Man is an attractive place to live and work What you may not know about the Isle of Man labour market, and why employment levels are so high How working together through shared online portal&#160;www.employed.im&#160;is enabling public, private and third sector organisations to improve employability and skills on the Island for the benefit of the local community If you are interested in learning more about the employment market and opportunities in the Isle of Man, or a solution for your employment needs, we would love to see you at the event. You can register for free&#160;here. Likewise, if you&#39;d like to meet up outside this event, or would like more information about PDMS Employed, please&#160;get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:50:46 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3765
New Service Team Manager Appointed at PDMS News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/jul/new-service-team-manager-appointed-at-pdms/
The new Service and Support team, led by Helen Ward with Lead Developer Robert Lindsay, will bring all client support and service into one expert team, where providing an excellent, responsive service for live business systems is the focus. The Service and Support team have a core of technical experts with a wide understanding of diverse client systems, who are also able to call on the knowledge and experience of the many individual system experts working in PDMS&#39; Project Development Teams. The creation of the Service and Support team allows the collective knowledge of all PDMS&#39; staff to be utilised in quickly and efficiently solving problems, whilst minimising the impact of interruptions for the project development teams - allowing them to focus on delivering client&#39;s projects to deadlines. The creation of the new team also supports PDMS&#39; recent expansion of the range of services they provide to their clients, both on and off-Island. Alongside the ongoing support they provide for the many business systems built throughout the company&#39;s 20 year history, they are now able to offer Business Support Outsourcing. This service can take over the day to day management of Business Systems (whether developed by PDMS or not): for example user administration and helpdesk provision, data management, content curation and FAQ management, leaving the client free to concentrate on running their Business, rather than running their System. Alongside PDMS&#39; Software as a Service offerings, including the popular secure Controlled Document Portal, and more traditional software development, business analysis and project management services, PDMS are now able to provide a comprehensive service to any client with a business challenge to meet. Helen commented: &#39;I am delighted to be appointed to this new role within PDMS. We have always prided ourselves in providing an excellent service to our clients and the formation of the team allows us to continue to focus on that support, while developing innovative new services which free up our clients to concentrate on running their businesses and serving their clients, rather than worrying about system administration. I have a very skilled and dedicated team, who love to talk to our clients and work with them to solve their problems, and we are all enjoying the challenge of developing new ways of working.&#39; Helen joined PDMS in 2005 as a business analyst with a 16 year background of analysis and testing, primarily in Financial Services. Since then she has worked in several roles for PDMS, including the management of major systems development projects for PDMS&#39; public sector clients, and oversaw the company&#39;s successful certification to the new International Information Security Standard ISO 27001. Helen is a qualified PRINCE2 project management practitioner and holds the ITIL Foundation Certificate&#160;in Service Management. If you would like more information about PDMS, or would like to discuss PDMS&#39; new service offerings, please contact Helen by email at helen.ward@pdms.com or by telephone on 01624 664000.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:48:13 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3762
PDMS Attends AELP 2014 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jun/pdms-attends-aelp-2014/
For this reason, on the 2nd-3rd June 2014, we attended the annual AELP (Association of Education &amp;amp; Learning Providers) conference in London. The conference proved to be one to remember, mainly due to controversy surrounding government apprenticeship reforms in England. The soon to be implemented reforms mean that government cash will go directly to employers to commission their own training instead of the current system where government cash goes directly to the providers. The reforms, designed to make employers care more about their apprentices were met with near unanimous frustration from training providers. On day one, Matthew Hancock MP for Skills and Enterprise and Esther McVey MP for Employment, took to the stand to answer questions and provide clarity on the reforms. Day two saw more apprenticeship debates and an insight into the future for skills and employment programmes. The event gave us an excellent appreciation for what training providers in England are facing and how we can help solve their problems through our software. As a software development company operating in the education and skills market, we offer two important skills - an in depth knowledge of the market which allows us to provide expert bespoke services and PDMS Employed. PDMS Employed is a single and easy to use portal that helps engage employers, education and training providers to support jobs, growth and skills development. As Esther McVey said on day one of the conference, the number of people sourcing jobs online has increased significantly over the last three years and will only continue to rise. We look forward to seeing how PDMS Employed can be a part of this growth. PDMS Employed will be at the Employment and Skills Breakfast at the International Festival of Business on June 18 with the&#160;Isle of Man Government&#160;and&#160;Hamblin Employment Group&#160;to discuss how the Isle of Man public, private and third sector collaboration is improving the employability and skills of the Isle of Man population. You can find out more details about the event and register to attend&#160;here.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:41:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3758
Manx Gas triumphs at Gas Industry&#39;s Awards News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/may/manx-gas-triumphs-at-gas-industrys-awards/
Congratulations to our client, Manx Gas who has triumphed at the Gas industry&#39;s prestigious annual &#39;Oscars&#39; and walked away with a coveted award in relation to the natural gas conversion&#160;project which was completed in 2012.&#160;The award, for customer service, is a major accolade for Aidan Baglow who faced the greatest challenge of his career as Manx Gas conversion project manager for one of the biggest&#160;infrastructure projects on the island. The two-year project was completed last year on time and under budget. A massive undertaking for Manx Gas, it involved surveying and converting over 9,000 appliances in 6,700 homes and businesses. Engineers removed 420 dangerous gas fires, made safe 114 immediately dangerous appliances and resolved 4,200 minor safety issues for customers and at no cost to the customer. Throughout the project a great deal of emphasis was placed on customer communication and delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. A converted bus provided a mobile support unit, following the conversion team around and ensuring customers had access to all the support they needed outside their own homes. An ongoing survey revealed high levels of customer satisfaction and over 150 positive comments. These &quot;outstanding achievements&quot; were recognised at the industry&#39;s prestigious annual awards lunch at The Hillton on London&#39;s Park Lane, sponsored by the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM) and the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA). The citation for the Gas Industry Customer Services Award which was presented to Mr Baglow said: &quot;Manx Gas monitored their customers&#39; feedback which ensured that the customer came first, regardless of the size or complexity of the tasks being delivered.&quot; Mr Baglow said: &quot;This project was a great example of how the effective use of technology can help increase efficiencies, improve customer service and also achieve significant cost savings. From a technical perspective it was also a great demonstration of the benefits of mobile technology. He added: &quot;Manx Gas worked in partnership with Island-based software developer PDMS to deliver an IT solution to help administer and manage the natural gas conversion project, drawing on PDMS&#39; experience of the gas sector through their work with Centrica and their expertise in mobile solutions. &quot;From a technical perspective it was also a great demonstration of the benefits of mobile technology. Manx Gas used the solution to schedule and monitor work in real time. The system used 3G mobile network to send data back to and synchronise data with the Central Conversion System managed by the central project team. Giving the engineers access to real time up to date information was absolutely critical to the success of the conversion project.&quot;Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:37:19 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3753
PDMS to exhibit at The Digital Scotland 2013 Exhibition News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/may/pdms-to-exhibit-at-the-digital-scotland-2013-exhibition/
Digital Scotland 2013 takes place at the Edinburgh Conference Centre on the 22nd May. The event brings together the perspectives of the Scottish government, civic &amp;amp; local authorities, community leaders and key business enterprises to work towards the Government&#39;s 2020 vision of having a world-class digital infrastructure. Smart cities, rural challenges, applications of the future, digital services and mobile technologies will all be discussed. The Conference is a key activity in Scotland&#39;s Digital Dialogue programme of events.&#160;PDMS will be attending as a member of Scotland IS (http://www.scotlandis.com/), the trade body for software, IT and creative technology businesses in Scotland. Chris Gledhill, PDMS&#39; Managing Director, commented &quot;We are really pleased to be exhibiting at Digital Scotland as part of the Scotland IS hub and are looking forward to finding out more about how Scotland is rising to the Digital challenge and opportunities&quot;. If you are attending the exhibition and would like to arrange a meeting with PDMS&#39; consultant in Scotland please email david.stickland@pdms.com.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:29:56 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3750
PDMS represents the IOM with its employed.im platform News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2014/jul/pdms-represents-the-iom-with-its-employedim-platform/
The aim of the the&#160;International Festival for Business&#160;event was to showcase the Isle of Man as a leading International Business Centre at the &#39;Employability and Skills Breakfast&#39; as part of the Government&#39;s &#39;Where you Can Intitative&#39;. The event, which was opened by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Erica Kemp attracted businesses, community leaders and employability, education and skills providers. As one of the key speakers of the event, PDMS presented the employed.im&#160;platform to delegates as an example of how public, private and third sector collaboration is improving the employability and skills of the Isle of Man population. Employed.im is the Isle of Man&#39;s only free jobs and careers portal, connecting employers and training providers with students, job seekers and job changers. Delegates also had the opportunity to network and ask questions to the PDMS panel. For more information about the employed.im platform, you can read the&#160;case study. For enquiries about how the platform can work for your educational or employment needs, please&#160;get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:27:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3749
Usain Bolt and The Giant Tea Cakes Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/aug/usain-bolt-and-the-giant-tea-cakes/
What a year to open an office in Scotland - the same year as the Independence Referendum, the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. We didn&#39;t open an office in any old location, we specifically chose the Hub - the digital media quarter of the city. It&#39;s a very exciting, innovative, thriving and popular area to be in and it just so happens that it is located right in the middle of where the Commonwealth Games action took place. Aside from doubling the length of our Glasgow based staff&#39;s commute, the games proved to be a big success and the atmosphere around the city was warm and exciting. As a technology company, we are constantly looking out for the technology that contributes to the success of these huge events. Unfortunately, we arrived a little too late in Glasgow to take part in the provision of services, but we were still able to watch in admiration as the mammoth technological task took place. Did you know 2,400 desktops and laptops, 2300 monitors, 50 servers and storage solutions were used across 40 competition and non-competition sites? Although Usain Bolt and the giant tea cakes stole the show, it would be an oversight not to acknowledge the work that went into the technological aspect of the games. Preparation began four years ago with the appointment of a Director of Technology for the games and he built a team to deliver the solution. Everything from specific apps for the games, giant video display screens, ticketing, social media, timekeeping and scoring had to be driven by technology. Technology wasn&#39;t just used for organisation and media, it was used to attract people to the areas that surrounded the stadiums. One of the most popular attractions was the chance to race a digital Usain Bolt over 33 metres. It was a great opportunity for kids and enthusiastic adults to race the fastest man of all time. All in all, the Games were a major success and it was a pleasure, despite the extended commute, to be located in the middle of all of the excitement.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:22:46 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3743
PDMS&#39; Chris comments on techUK&#39;s #3PointPlan for the UK public sector Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/oct/pdms-chris-comments-on-techuks-3pointplan-for-the-uk-public-sector/
The 3 point plan&#160;comes in response to the growing level of public and political concern over the Government&#39;s use of digital technology and relationship with the digital marketplace. The aim of the plan, which has been made independent of Government and was put together by techUK members, is to increase Government&#39;s digital knowledge, making them a more informed customer and to broaden the scope for technological innovation within the public sector, supported by the expertise of tech suppliers. The plan also directly addresses the way the Government and tech industry work together, and incorporates the Office of Fair Trading&#39;s report into public sector technology and results from an independent investigation showing that government officials want better value through better supplier relationships. It is now hoped that techUK members will work with Government ministers and officials to begin implementing the plan across all Government departments. Julian David, chief executive of techUK, said: &quot;This is all about bringing the full power and potential of digital technology into the public sector and improving the lives of ordinary people. As an industry we recognise that we can do better, and we want to help. This plan is designed to do that by improving the way we work with Government, flooding it with expertise and knowledge about digital technology and how the tech industry works. It will make Government a more demanding customer, and give them the ability to test new ideas and innovations safely without the fear of failure. Now we want to move forward positively with Government and make this plan a reality. The prize is better public services, and a public sector that is able to make crucial savings in an age of austerity. Everyone benefits.&quot; The plan has three points: 1. Better engagement, to support civil servants earlier in the process and help develop policy with technical expertise. techUK members are committing resource to engage much earlier in the process, ensuring officials develop policy with a proper understanding of what technology can do. Previously many in the industry felt they were waiting to be invited to tender for a scheme that might have been designed better. 2. Better information, providing standardised, transparent reporting. This will overcome the problems of wildly varying reporting requirements on public sector contracts, which had the effect of making one scheme impossible to compare with another. The industry will agree a standardised data and evaluation scheme, allowing Government to pick and choose suppliers more effectively. 3. More innovation, giving civil servants the opportunity to experiment and explore solutions in a risk-free environment. techUK&#39;s &#39;innovation den&#39; model will be used to provide a test platform for new projects, and is designed to overcome the problem of public sector innovation being strangled by the fear of failure. techUK will develop a &#39;techmap&#39; of suppliers, ensuring Government is aware of all the options available to them. Commenting on the plan, PDMS&#39; Managing Director Chris Gledhill, who was&#160;elected to the techUK SME Public Services Board&#160;earlier this year said, &quot;I am delighted that the IT industry is stepping up and engaging constructively with the Government in the UK. As an industry we have a lot to contribute to both economic growth in general and to productivity improvements in public administration in particular. Both have a positive impact on the public finances, and any initiative which enhances the contribution our industry can make to innovation in the public sector has my wholehearted support&quot;. To follow the conversation online, tweet&#160;@PDMS&#160;using the hashtag #3pointplan! About techUK techUK represents the companies and technologies that are defining today the world that we will live in tomorrow. More than 850 companies are members of techUK. Collectively they employ more than 500,000 people, about half of all tech sector jobs in the UK. These companies range from leading FTSE 100 companies to new innovative start-ups. The majority of our members are small and medium sized businesses. .Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:17:03 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3739
Award short list for Manx Gas News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/may/award-short-list-for-manx-gas/
Manx Gas has been nominated in two Gas Industry&#160;categories - Safety and Customer Service - both in relation to the recent successful natural gas conversion project. The project, which commenced in 2011 was completed on time and under budget at the end of 2012, was a major undertaking for Manx Gas and involved surveying and converting over 9000 appliances in 67000 homes and businesses on the Isle of Man. The project helped to significantly improve the safety of some gas appliances with engineers removing 420 dangerous gas fires, making safe 114 immediately dangerous appliances and resolving 4,200 minor safety issues for customers (at no cost to the customer). Throughout the project, a great deal of emphasis was placed on customer communication and delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. A converted bus provided a mobile support unit, following the team around and ensuring that customers had access to all the support they needed right outside their own homes. Manx Gas carried out an ongoing customer satisfaction survey which revealed high levels of customer satisfaction and over 150 positive comments. PDMS worked in partnership with Manx Gas to deliver an IT solution to help administer and manage the natural gas conversion project drawing on PDMS&#39; experience of the gas sector through our work with Centrica and our expertise in mobile solutions. This project was a great example of how the effective use of technology can help increase efficiencies, improve customer service and also achieve significant cost savings. From a technical perspective it was also a great demonstration of the benefits of mobile technology. Manx Gas used the solution to schedule and monitor work in real time.&#160;The system used 3G mobile network to send data back to and&#160;synchronise data with the Central Conversion System managed by the central project team. Giving the engineers access to real-time up to date information was absolutely critical to the success of the conversion project. The awards will be announced at the Gas Industry Awards lunch, a prestigious annual event which is being held in London on the 7th May. The lunch is attended by over 600 senior representatives of the gas industry and John Hayes, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change is presenting the keynote address. The very best of luck to Aidan Baglow and the rest of the team at Manx Gas!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:15:45 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3737
Data Protection in the Isle of Man: the hidden benefits Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/oct/data-protection-in-the-isle-of-man-the-hidden-benefits/
... an informative supplement to our ISO security outline that you can read more about in our&#160;quality overview. In summary, this supplement on Isle of Man Data Protection states how, despite the Isle of Man not being inside the European Economic Area (EEA), storing data on the Isle of Man does not conflict the principle of not transferring data outside of the EEA, as confirmed by the member states of the EEA. (If you&#39;d like to read up more on this you can visit the European Parliament&#160;Agreement&#160;and Isle of Man Government&#160;Overseas Transfer&#160;documents). However whilst we have told you about how seriously the Isle of Man takes data protection, and how PDMS are registered with both the Isle of Man and UK Data Protection Authorities, we thought that it would be really useful to outline why using the Isle of Man for data protection actually has its benefits. The first of these benefits is that when storing your data on the Isle of Man, your data will stay on the Isle of Man, and not float from one country to another simply because the price of data storage changes. Another key benefit is that there is no worry about your data being automatically requested from governments and companies, unlike in countries such as America, where automatic access to data has become a big problem for many people. In the Isle of Man, data cannot be transferred off a client&#39;s server without an Isle of Man court order. So when asking about data protection in the Isle of Man, hopefully you will have a much more informed idea of how it works and the benefits. If you would like to have a chat with us about our&#160;Hosting and Managed Services&#160;- please feel free to get in touch.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:13:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3734
PDMS awarded the Intellect Business Professional Certificate News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/mar/pdms-awarded-the-intellect-business-professional-certificate/
The Business Professional Certificate&#160;(BPC) has been established by techUK (formerly Intellect), the UK trade association for the IT, telecoms and electronics industries, to identify companies with professional and thorough business processes in place and a commitment to higher standards. This is a significant achievement for PDMS who are the first company on the Isle of Man to receive this prestigious award, and one of only 25 companies in total to receive the accreditation. In order to become BPC certified, PDMS have undergone a rigorous process that covers their entire business operations. They were required to provide evidence of their procedures in each of ten performance areas: Professional Indemnity, Information Security Policy, Business Continuity, Project Management, Proposal Review, Customer Care, Corporate and Social Responsibility, Human Resources, Customer References and Optional Escrow, and in a large number of performance criteria under each of these areas. The project to achieve BPC status was overseen by PDMS&#39; Quality &amp;amp; Standards Manager, Simon Edwards who commented, &quot;The Business Professional Certificate complements our existing ISO Quality Standard accreditations by highlighting not only the fact that we adhere to best practice, but also the professionalism of our organisation and people&quot;. Managing Director of PDMS UK, Giles Milner was officially presented with the certificate at techUK&#39;s Board Meeting where he explained &quot;We have been very impressed with how easy the scheme has been to engage with and it is really positive to get further external endorsement of the processes we use to run our business. The BPC was created to provide SMEs in particular a relevant and fit for purpose &#39;stamp&#39; of professionalism. Professional organisations create confidence and trust in their customers, suppliers, staff and other stakeholders, which results in reduced costs, increased profits and an enhanced reputation for themselves and the&#160;industry as a whole.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:10:14 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3730
What a year! #Throwback December Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/dec/what-a-year-throwback-december/
Love it or loath it, it&#39;s a time for reflection, jollity and of course lots (and lots) of mince pies. In the past 12 months we&#39;ve seen monumental technological changes happening around us - from the public launch of Google&#39;s greatly anticipated Google Glass and other wearable technologies, to the hotly debated implications of artificial intelligence and the rise of the digital trend known as the &#39;sharing economy&#39;. So what has PDMS been up to in this time? Let&#39;s take a look back at some of this year&#39;s highlights… January To mark the start of the year and 20 years in business in the Isle of Man, we were delighted to present a cheque for a whopping &#163;10,740 to 10 local charities - raised from a black tie dinner we hosted in late 2013. The charities, which were all nominated by PDMS staff were: Save the Children, Housingmatters Isle of Man, Craig&#39;s Heartstrong Foundation, SportErin, Victim Support Isle of Man, Hyperbaric Chamber, Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Rebecca House, The Children&#39;s Centre and Southern Befrienders. February In February we announced our membership to&#160;Mersey Maritime, signalling our commitment to growing our involvement in the maritime sector on an international level, whilst raising our profile in the North West of England! We also welcomed&#160;four new members&#160;to our growing Isle of Man Headquarters, joining our infrastructure, marketing and administration teams. March After the launch of our employed.im platform in November 2013, we unveiled its video technology feature, enabling employers to screen candidates prior to interview and allowing candidates to practice their self-interview techniques. We also ran an employed.im iPad Air giveaway with Manx Telecom and discussed the benefits of the new employed.im website with Money Media. March also saw the launch of our rebranded online portal for sharing and controlling documents - now known as&#160;DoxShare. April In April we officially launched our first ever&#160;Scottish Office&#160;in Glasgow, opened by the Isle of Man Chief Minister Allan Bell and Scotland&#39;s First Minister Alex Salmond! We received a very warm welcome and discussed our plans to create new jobs and to continue our expansion as an innovative enterprise ICT organisation. May In May we were pleased to announce a new partnership with Aberdeen Airport to support the improvement of their customer service with our lost property solution,&#160;PITAR&#160;(now branded Retrieva). Using our technology, the airport which recorded 3.48 million passengers in 2013, seeks to process regional and international lost property much more efficiently, reuniting items with owners through our online lost and property portal, helping them embrace technology as part of their Customer Charter commitments. Commenting on the new initiative, Fraser Bain one of the airport&#39;s duty managers said that PDMS, &quot;share their vision of getting business and operational benefits from technology&quot;. June In June we hosted two successful events at the&#160;International Festival for Business&#160;in Liverpool. The first, with the Isle of Man Maritime Group as the Group&#39;s chairing company, was aimed at promoting the Isle of Man as an international Maritime Centre of Excellence. The event, hosted on board the prestigious Kathleen and May tall ship was emphasised by guests and festival organisers as a highlight of the Maritime, Logistics and Energy Week, featuring in the festival&#39;s main news. Our second event at the festival was at the &#39;Employment and Skills&#39; Breakfast, where we showcased our new product: PDMS Employed - our online platform which connects people and organisations with an interest in skills and employment - a cost effective solution for both central and local governments. Since the event we&#39;ve had some interesting discussions with agencies in the UK, especially after Nick Clegg&#39;s proposal that all local councils should have a &quot;one stop&quot; website for jobs and careers! July July was an extremely busy month for us - our Managing Director,&#160;Chris Gledhill was elected to the techUK Public Services Boardfor SMEs, representing the UK IT industry ahead of the 2015 General Elections. Chris was also&#160;nominated to judge&#160;the JA-YE European Student Company of the Year competition in Estonia, which is Europe&#39;s largest entrepreneurship education programme, reaching a massive 3.2 million students. This month we were also&#160;amongst the world&#39;s first&#160;to be awarded the new international quality standard, ISO 27001:2013 by Lloyd&#39;s Register Quality Assurance - a reflection of our company wide commitment to best practices. August In August we hosted a local&#160;employed.im HR and recruitment seminar, demonstrating how the Isle of Man is working together towards a more joined up approach to employment, training and recruitment. We also celebrated our growing presence in Glasgow by sponsoring&#160;Hawick Rugby Club&#160;for their 2014/15 season. September September was quite possibly our busiest but also most exciting month of the year, as we boosted our expansion in Scotland with an acquisition of certain parts of the business and assets of Maxima Information Group Limited. In a&#160;deal worth &#163;1m, we showed our commitment to enhancing our expertise and range of services in the enterprise resource planning, payroll software and ferry ticketing market. The strategic move also meant we welcomed 14 new staff members to our team, adding significant capability to our business resources, whilst simultaneously becoming a major technology supplier in the Scottish ferry industry. October October&#160;saw the launch of the innovative Help for Victims site&#160;(www.helpforvictims.co.uk) which we developed for the Police National Legal Database in the UK. Aimed at helping victims and witnesses of crime and funded by the Ministry of Justice, this website is the only one of its kind which provides clear advice and answers to frequently asked questions from the Victim&#39;s Code, with local responses based on a user&#39;s location. The website also joins up over 400 local supporting organisations, and is accessible in the five most frequently spoken languages in West Yorkshire. The project has been so successful that it is hoped it will be rolled out to other police forces across England and Wales and will be shortly provided in IoS and Android App format. In addition, during October our MARIS ship registry solution product was&#160;shortlisted&#160;in the Isle of Man&#39;s Awards for Excellence, and the first phase of our project to replace the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry&#39;s system to support their continued growth was completed. November In November we celebrated the one year anniversary of the launch of&#160;employed.im! Employed.im is the Isle of Man&#39;s go to jobs and careers portal for students, job seekers, job changers, employers and training providers. In its first year, member numbers have surpassed over 3000 individual users, and the implications for the website have been so well received that Junior Achievement are now using employed.im in Isle of Man secondary schools to help students create their own CVs and find out about career opportunities. Find out what all the fuss is about at&#160;www.employed.im. December A quiet month for some, but this month we&#39;ve been busy preparing for some exciting projects for 2015, one of which includes the re-design of our pdms.com website, incorporating our growing technology product portfolio. We&#39;ve also been promoting our services further afield - visiting warmer climates with trips to Paris, Seychelles and the Bahamas. Watch this space for some exciting developments in the New Year!Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:09:15 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3727
PDMS launches new website for Duncan Lawrie Private Bank News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/feb/pdms-launches-new-website-for-duncan-lawrie-private-bank/
Duncan Lawrie (www.duncanlawrie.com) is an established niche private bank offering a range of integrated financial services that combine to create a real alternative to everyday high street banking, financial planning and investment management. The PDMS&#39; design team worked closely with Duncan Lawrie to refresh their online brand presence whilst retaining their core values as a traditional, relationship-led private bank. The deadlines for the project were tight as the launch of the new website was required to coincide with a New Year marketing campaign that the bank were carrying out. Duncan Lawrie required an easy to use content management solution to enable their internal marketing team to edit and update their website in real time. The new website allows both current and existing clients to subscribe to newsletters and social media feeds, making it easier and more straightforward for the bank to keep clients informed and up to date. PDMS used the Umbraco Content Management System which allowed the site to be rapidly developed in an agile environment and were able to get the site up and running in just a few weeks. PDMS mapped and migrated content from the old website to the new Umbraco site which saved valuable development time. The new site is also hosted by PDMS. Umbraco is a leading, open source CMS platform that powers an impressive number of international websites including corporate sites for Heinz and Peugeot as well as Microsoft&#39;s flagship&#160;www.asp.net. PDMS is an&#160;accredited Umbraco partner and our staff have undergone in-depth Umbraco training to become Certified Umbraco Professionals. Jane Parry, Director and Head of Marketing and Business Development at Duncan Lawrie Private Bank said, &#39;We have been delighted to work with PDMS on this important project. Whilst digital channels will never replace the human touch for many of our clients, we all recognise the increasingly important role they play in growing our business and improving interactions with clients and contacts. This new website is a great first step and we look forward to a long partnership with PDMS as we continue to develop our digital channels&#39;. PDMS and Duncan Lawrie are now working together on phase two of the project which includes further enhancements and new features.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 10:00:09 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3724
PDMS to attend Bahamas International Investment and Business Forum News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2013/feb/pdms-to-attend-bahamas-international-investment-and-business-forum/
The event is being organised by the Commonwealth Business Council, the Bahamas Investment Authority and The Grand Bahama Port Authority. The Bahamas International Investment &amp;amp; Business Forum will highlight the key advantages that The Bahamas, and Grand Bahama in particular, will have in capitalising on the expansion of the Panama Canal, which is due to be completed in 2014. The event will also showcase The Bahamas as a global investment destination of choice with a wide range of opportunities across a number of key sectors. Held under the theme &#39;At the Crossroads of 21st Century Trade and Investment&#39;. PDMS have been working with the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) through the last two years and have developed their international ship registry enterprise system &#39;BORIS&#39;, the &#39;Bahamas On-Line Registration Information System&#39;, based on PDMS&#39;s existing MARIS platform for International Ship Registries. The Bahamas is one of the world&#39;s largest Shipping Registers with over 50 million gross tonnage of ships currently flying the Bahamas flag. The Registry has grown considerably over the past ten years and has a well-earned reputation for excellence in meeting international shipping standards and for the overall quality of its Registry. The BORIS system, developed by PDMS, provides an enterprise back office management system as well as enabling registered users to securely submit applications electronically, via the web, for Bahamas Flag State Endorsements, Seaman Record Books, Ship Security Officers, Offshore and other relevant training and proficiency certificates on behalf of Seafarers who are employed or intended to be employed onboard Bahamian registered ships. The BORIS system is being used by the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) offices around the world including London and New York and will further help them to continue delivering high levels of customer service and to also offer new services as the Registry continues to expand. Bruce McGregor commented &quot;I am delighted to be attending this prestigious and interesting forum and look forward to meeting key people from the Organisers. We feel that our continued investment in our MARIS platform for International Ship Registries; our on-going work with the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) on their BORIS project; combined with our focus on the Maritime sector and general experience in delivering solutions to Governments, already aligns very well with quality jurisdictions like the Bahamas. Through this event I look forward to finding out more about the Bahamas and its growing business opportunities and activities.&quot;Tue, 20 Oct 2015 09:55:02 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3720
PDMS secures place on Government&#39;s &#39;G-Cloud&#39; II Framework News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/nov/pdms-secures-place-on-governments-g-cloud-ii-framework/
The framework, which is administered by the UK Cabinet Office and delivered through the Government&#39;s &#39;CloudStore&#39;* online catalogue, allows all public sector bodies to procure IT services from pre-approved suppliers, all of whom meet stringent Government Procurement standards. G-Cloud II - The new framework G-Cloud II replaces the original framework (which went live in February 2012) and builds on its successes by continuing to transform the way the public sector buys IT products and services. Where once public sector bodies and departments procured their own IT services, often locked into lengthy contracts and paying high development costs; they can now buy from a range of more than 3,000 IT services, off-the-shelf, and paid for on a &#39;pay-as-you-go&#39; basis. This will inevitably, as the Cabinet Office said, &quot;Transform how suppliers work with government, driving greater efficiency and savings for the taxpayer.&quot; PDMS&#39; Cloud solutions PDMS are pleased to have secured a place to deliver cloud services in two lots; Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions as well as Specialist Cloud services (cloud- based application development services). This means that anybody across the public sector who is looking for a cloud-based document management system, for example, to help share and control their documents securely, can now purchase PDMS&#39; DoxShare solution quickly and easily (within 24 hours); without having to go through a long and expensive procurement process. Chris Gledhill, Managing Director at PDMS commented, &quot;The most exciting aspect of this framework is the opportunity it provides for co-innovation with our public sector partners. PDMS have invested heavily in developing a platform for secure scalable online cloud applications which we can now offer as a basis for huge variety of solutions.&quot; *Effective October 2014, the CloudStore is now known as the Digital Marketplace.Tue, 20 Oct 2015 09:22:33 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3702
Would you vouch for Groupon? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/jan/would-you-vouch-for-groupon/
The pattern of events which precedes a crash is often the same: investors are caught up in a frenzy of hype and buzzwords, and often without researching how realistic companies&#39; profit projections actually are, or how solid businesses are underneath the bonnet, stock issues are snapped up by eager investors, hoping to make big gains for little investment. These factors were all present in the lead up to the first tech crash of the early naughties, when hundreds of technology companies folded within months of holding IPOs, resulting in the NASDAQ Composite dropping 78% in the 30 months from March 2000 to October 2002, crushing stocks which represented billions of dollars of investment. The internet, with its limitless potential to bring together investors and entrepreneurs, means that there will always be new frontiers and investors will, as always become animated over the hype surrounding these ventures. Collective investor memories are short and after just over a decade investors are gearing up to put their money behind the new wave of technology companies - this time the majority of which aren&#39;t dealing in e-commerce and financial transactions, but the social web - or web 2.0. With the hype surrounding this new wave of internet ventures, and the anticipation over when these companies will go public, I can&#39;t help wondering if we shouldn&#39;t expect to see a Dot.com crash 2.0 A case in point: Groupon- How much is it really worth? In 2008, Groupon was founded by Silicon Valley&#39;s latest wunderkind Andrew Mason, a Northwestern University alum with a degree in Music, &#39;the uselessness of which was [his] chief inspiration not to be useless&#39;. His entrepreneurial debut was an ultimately unsuccessful website called The Point, which allowed people to organise group donations of time or money to a charity, local enterprise or political cause, as long as enough people committed to doing the same - or a &#39;tipping point&#39; was reached. Mason&#39;s next idea &#39;Groupon&#39; (the name is an amalgamation of the words group and coupon), works along this same (recently patented) tipping point idea; through Groupon, retailers offer a discount coupon for a service or product which is only released to Groupon subscribers when a pre-determined number of people commit to the offer thus reducing the risk to the retailer. With markdowns of up to 75%, Groupon claims its subscribers spend, on average 60% over the value of the &#39;groupon&#39;, meaning that Groupon&#39;s 50-50 cut of the profits is making them real money. In fact, Groupon is one of the most successful of this new wave of social start-ups, having turned profitable in just over 12 months, and with 95% of deals now &#39;tipping&#39;, the company has &#39;sold&#39; more than 26 million groupons worldwide, saving consumers in the US alone $850million. There has been much speculation over the future for Groupon in terms of funding, with rumours of an IPO as early as this spring. The company recently snubbed a buyout bid from Google worth an estimated $6billion (more than twice the value of Google&#39;s next highest buyout bid). What is clear, however is that Groupon&#39;s boundless enthusiasm for expansion (it&#39;s currently moving into an average of 35 new cities per week), means that it needs significant amounts of investment behind it. Fortunately, they&#39;ve raised $950million in what became the second highest funding round in history, bringing in firms such as Greylock Partners and Russian telecoms giant Digital Sky Technologies, both of which also invested in Facebook and Zynga, (the company behind hugely successful online games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars, among others). However, creating a successful internet-based business can seem like the easy part in comparison to the epic task of maintaining that success over a number of year. We&#39;ve witnessed countless examples of zeitgeist websites fading into obscurity; Hi5 or Bebo for example have been completely usurped by the runaway success of Facebook and while MySpace held on valiantly for years, it seems its days are now numbered too. Here&#39;s hoping that Groupon doesn&#39;t meet the same fate as Friends Reunited which was bought by ITV at the height of its popularity in 2005 for &#163;175million, was sold just four years later for &#163;25million.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:20:24 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3700
Bobbies on the tweet Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/feb/bobbies-on-the-tweet/
In fact, social networks are proving to be such a rich source of information in certain crimes, that detectives can now attend a training course on techniques to help them gather evidence on sites such as Twitter. The post prompted me to reflect on how the police are also engaging with social media, not only as a research tool but as an additional and increasingly important communication channel to reach all of their diverse communities. Last year PDMS were delighted to bring over Chief Inspector Mark Payne from West Midlands Police to the Island to present a really informative and entertaining seminar about his force&#39;s experiences of using social media. West Midlands Police were the original real trail blazers in this area, launching Facebook pages for local areas over two years ago and actively encouraging officers to blog and tweet. The force has also embraced different types of media including video, with PCTV featuring heavily on its website and footage regularly posted on the force&#39;s YouTube channel. They&#39;ve found new and innovative ways of engaging with their audiences including the very popular &quot;Pup Idol&quot; videos which follow the latest litter of police dogs from their birth and cute phase right up to the point where they become operational and not quite so cuddly! CI Mark Payne comments on his blog (http://cimarkpayne.wordpress.com), &quot;Social media platforms provide us with an absolutely fantastic opportunity to have conversations with people, to recognise their problems and to tell them what we are doing about them.&quot; Other forces are now recognising the value of social media which not only gives their communities a voice but also allows the police to engage in the conversation. Manchester Police got a lot of positive media coverage last year when it decided to tweet every incident it dealt with over a 24 hour period. The aim of the exercise was to raise awareness of the wide range of incidents that police officers have to deal with every day, many of which in reality aren&#39;t crime related. Over the period there were 3,205 tweets ranging from serious crimes to the more obscure reports of cows on the road and strange noises coming from a loft in Salford. The force&#39;s Twitter followers soared from 4000 to over 17,000 but the real point that the force was trying to make is that currently policing gets measured by the crimes recorded and detected and this simply doesn&#39;t reflect all the work they do on a day to day basis. I&#39;ve got first hand experience of one online project that is actively helping the UK Police by reducing the number of non-emergency calls they receive. That&#39;s because PDMS are technology partners to the Police National Legal Database (PNLD) Team based at West Yorkshire Police. PNLD are behind the successful national Police FAQ Portal www.askthe.police.uk, launched in 2005 and still going strong, which helps members of the public find answers to popular questions without having to phone up their local police force. The website contains nationally consistent answers to the 750 most frequently asked questions posed to the police ranging from what to do after a road accident to who to contact about rubbish being dumped in your neighbourhood. If a question you need an answer to isn&#39;t listed you can ask the question by e-mail and the team will add it, and the answer, to the portal By encouraging members of the public to find out information on a dedicated portal instead of phoning the police with a non-emergency call, the FAQ portal has delivered substantial cost savings. There are now over 125,000 transactions on the database a month and with a non-emergency call lasting on average 3.5 minutes, that means 87,5000 hours at a cost of &#163;1.75 million saved per year. The site is also delivering additional value as it is being used to train police Call-handling and Enquiry desk staff, ensuring that consistent answers are given no matter which of the 43 forces takes the call. This award winning project has now been launched in Scotland, with a new Scottish version of the portal www.askthe.scottish.police.uk. The Police aren&#39;t immune from the current cut backs in public expenditure and with budgets being slashed and fewer police officers on our streets, the effective use of technology not only to drive efficiency but to also help improve communication with the communities they serve, will be paramount. With the Isle of Man Constabulary Northern Neighbourhood Policing Team already on Facebook, I wonder how long it will be before the Isle of Man has its very own bobbies on the tweet!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:18:18 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3697
Is your website legit? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/mar/is-your-website-legit/
If you&#39;re planning to launch a new website, or you currently run one, you will already be familiar with the extensive planning and thought that goes into even the smallest of projects. It is very easy to get caught up in the excitement of seeing your project come to life and forget about unimportant details such as terms and conditions, disclaimers and privacy policies. No one cares about those things anyway, right? Wrong! If proof were needed that the small print is important on websites, you only need to read the extensive (and highly critical) articles about Facebook&#39;s privacy settings. In fact it&#39;s crucial to make sure your website carries the right legal information, and failure to do so could leave you open to criticism, or worse, prosecution, under any number of laws ranging from data protection, to disability discrimination to the Companies Act. The subjects of eCommerce and international law are complex and if you are in any doubt about the law as it relates to your website you should seek guidance from a specialised lawyer or advocate. The information below is intended as a general background to consider before running a website. What type of information should my website contain? The exact nature of the information you make available will depend on the nature of your website. Do you intend to write a personal blog, run an online shop or promote a government body? For example, you may consider that a personal blog would be unlikely to challenge any laws in the United Kingdom. Reminding users about Intellectual Property Rights however may be of significant interest to you if you are publishing material which could be stolen or appropriated by others. Outlined below are some areas to consider when it comes to planning what you might need to cover on your own website. Company details Registered companies, regardless of what they do, should display: Company registration number Place of registration &#39;geographic&#39; address (registered address for a company is sufficient) Email address (a contact form is not enough) Details of any memberships of trade organisations or associations VAT number, even if the website is not transactional Contrary to popular belief it is not necessary to include this information on every page, as long as it is easily found on the website, however it is recommended that you include this information on email footers as business emails are then classified as &#39;business letters&#39;. Privacy statement A privacy policy, or privacy statement, should be used by any website that collects personal information from its users - which could be as seemingly trivial as a name and an email address. It should describe what happens to the information that is submitted and explain what users should do if they wish to &#39;opt out&#39; in the future. If you have a contact form, or a newsletter sign up, then you should definitely have a privacy statement which clearly outlines what happens to the information users submit. If you do intend to pass on the information to others or email the user with details of special offers etc, then they must agree to this at the time they submit their details. A privacy statement might also include information about &#39;cookies&#39;. Cookies are identifying files downloaded to your computer that allows a website to recognise you next time you visit that website. Cookies allow websites like Amazon to recommend products you might be interested in and generally make your life on the web easier, although they are also sometimes cited as an invasion of privacy. According to EU Anti-Spam law, you have to tell users of your website that you are using cookies (if you are), and explain how to disable them in their browser so they can opt out. Pricing, Advertising and Trade Descriptions For companies that sell online, it is important to provide clear and up to date pricing. It should also be unambiguous as to whether the price shown includes VAT, delivery or any other charges. &#39;Low frills&#39; airline Ryanair has hit the headlines several times since 2005 following complaints from customers that prices shown on the website were misleading. Similarly, from March 1st 2011 online advertising will be subject to the same codes that govern other types of public advertising, so it is important to make sure that any advertising or promotion that is carried on your website is not misleading. The Trade Descriptions Act also applies to goods sold on the internet, so goods and services should be described accurately. Other requirements for those selling online can be found …? Web Accessibility and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) Part III of the DDA, which can be downloaded from the Equality and Human Rights, explains that websites must meet the same requirements as the physical premises of a company. Copyright and IPR The good news about copyright is that anyone who writes or otherwise creates something original has automatic rights to that material through international copyright law. However, if you reproduce images or text from someone else&#39;s website you also need to be aware that this would count as an infringement of copyright if you had not previously sought permission from that website&#39;s owner. If you commission photography or illustration for your website, be aware that the creator of this work may resell the images elsewhere unless your contract states otherwise. Conclusion The law as it relates to websites can be complex, however for the most part it is common sense and there is a vast amount of additional information available from online business resources. For further information: www.out-law.com http://www.seqlegal.com/legal-services/website-lawMon, 19 Oct 2015 17:13:16 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3694
Encouraging Tomorrow&#39;s Entrepreneurs Today Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/apr/encouraging-tomorrows-entrepreneurs-today/
This is a competition in which young people, typically between 16 and 18, set up and run their own businesses and are then judged on a variety of criteria which assess both their performance as a business and their achievements as a team. PDMS have been sponsoring the &#39;company of the year&#39; award on the Isle of Man for four years now and I have been involved in the judging each year, long enough to observe some common themes. Each year the majority of companies have, as part of their motivation, either a charitable or a green theme of some kind. This theme, particularly the environmental aspect is also reflected in the European competition which the Isle of Man winners participate in each year. It is easy to dismiss these idealistic impulses as na&#239;ve, and for business mentors and judges to question the business logic behind some of these schemes, and in purely commercial terms the companies usually have a lot to learn. However, what I have increasingly come to realise is that the impulse to do something differently, to use business as a platform for addressing the social and environmental challenges we all face, is fundamentally entrepreneurial. Successful entrepreneurs are often people who don&#39;t particularly fit the standard model of success in educational or corporate terms. They can be anything but methodical and well organised… but whatever the underlying motivation, be it money, engineering excellence, social or environmental goals, or a burning desire for better household appliances, they always have a vision of how things could be done better. Professional advisors and managers on the other hand are usually pretty well organised, educated to a high level in their specialist discipline, be it law, accountancy, project management, banking or whatever, and have a pretty good idea about how things should be done and what has worked before. This sometimes makes for a slightly uncomfortable relationship, particularly in the early stages of a business when there may be a great dependence on professional advisors to raise capital or simply to bring a degree of realism to qualify someone&#39;s big idea. The entrepreneur&#39;s view is summed up very well in the words of Deborah Meaden from the Dragons Den speaking on the Women in Business programme on Radio Four recently, &quot;remember advisors are just advisors it&#39;s up to the business owner to make the decisions and take responsibility&quot;. In reality all successful businesses need a bit of both, the ambition and innovation of the entrepreneur and the sound management and professional advice to make things work in the real world. I would go so far as to say that it is the combination of these two elements which lies at the heart of a successful modern economy - creativity and new ideas on the one hand and efficient, cost effective and technically competent execution on the other. I think the JA experience provides a perfect demonstration of these principles, in an educational context, for all concerned. One thing I am sure of is that everyone who gets involved in the JA company programme will be pleasantly surprised by what they get out of it. For the young people it is an intense and challenging insight into the world of work; where there are very few black and white answers, where you have to take responsibility for your own decisions and where the performance of the team is far more important than your own individual brilliance. For the adult volunteers, be they mentors, link teachers, competition judges or simply JA supporters; it is hugely rewarding to see the energy, enthusiasm and commitment the teams bring to their endeavours. Finally I would like to wish this year&#39;s winners, Cahoots from Castle Rushen High School the best of luck when they come to represent the Isle of Man in Oslo this summer.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:09:27 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3692
Social media at work - what are your rules of engagement? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/may/social-media-at-work-what-are-your-rules-of-engagement/
This means engaging on a corporate level with a wide range of social media channels, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and new communication tools such as blogs, podcasts, videos and wikis. Embracing social media can be quite a cultural shift for some organisations, especially the traditionalists in some marketing departments who find the loss of control over corporate communications unnerving. They don&#39;t want their employees to engage in uncontrolled conversations with customers, prospects and the wider world. Of course, employees have been talking about their companies in uncontrolled conversations for years, the only difference is that now the potential audience is millions and it&#39;s recorded for prosperity, rather than a fleeting comment to a couple of people in a pub. Some organisations also believe that by openly embracing social media they are somehow giving their employees permission to spend all day on Facebook and productivity and profits will suffer as a result. However, this simply isn&#39;t true; if people are determined to waste time in work they will do it with or without social media. Most people have access to e-mail at work for years, but they predominately use it for work purposes as opposed to e-mailing friends and family all day. Unproductive employees are a management issue, not a reason for trying to prevent engagement with, or even blocking access to social media channels. One of the first issues we had to address was drafting a social media policy, and this was not as easy as I originally anticipated. The main reason being that there are so many grey areas when it comes to social media; social media is a personality powered platform and you can&#39;t easily separate out corporate from personal communication. However, we recognised that it was important to have a policy, (not to create rules, this approach simply won&#39;t work in the social media sphere), but to provide guidance. Its purpose is twofold: a roadmap for encouraging staff to talk about our company and their work but also a safeguard to help protect our company&#39;s brand and reputation. We discovered that it&#39;s really important to get input from all areas of the business when drafting the social media policy so that you can discuss, debate to overcome concerns and come to a consensus. This won&#39;t always be easy as different functions will undoubtedly have different takes on social media&#39; from the Marketing Department who&#39;ll want anyone to say anything, anywhere as long as it&#39;s positive to the Legal Department who won&#39;t want you to say anything to anyone, anywhere and the HR Department who&#39;ll want you do exactly what they say! There are loads of tips, hints and great examples of best practice on the web to help you write your social media policy. Here are my 5 top tips for anybody about to embark on putting together a social media policy for their organisation: Review policies from a range of companies to get different perspectives, especially those policies which have been recognised for best practice e.g. Dell and BBC. As part of your policy document, explain what social media is and why your company wants to embrace it. Focus on the dos rather than the don&#39;ts - remember that you are supposed to be empowering people to participate and not discouraging them. Don&#39;t put too much emphasis on how to behave on specific social media platforms e.g. Twitter, as these will change quite frequently, it&#39;s best to focus on general online behaviour. Highlight the importance of reflecting on what people are posting, for example would they be happy for it to be published under their name in the local paper?Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:07:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3690
My name&#39;s Joanne and I&#39;m an eBayaholic Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/jun/my-names-joanne-and-im-an-ebayaholic/
In my case, eBay really has become the first port of call for nearly all of our household&#39;s diverse purchases - this month we&#39;ve purchased: a set of replacement brushes for our washing machine, a very lovely brand new Lloyd Baker leather handbag and a batman outfit complete with cape (for my 4 year old son I might add!). eBay, the online auction site, once the darling of the internet age is now being upstaged in terms of market valuations by the new social media debutants including Facebook. However, it is still an online powerhouse and when you look at some of the facts and figures around eBay, its global penetration is quite amazing. eBay has 94 million active users globally. If it were a country eBay would be the 13th most populous country in the world. In 2010, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $62 billion - more than $2,000 every second. On eBay in the USA, a mobile phone is sold every 5 seconds, a pair of shoes is sold every 8 seconds and a major appliance is sold every minute. Also, over 1.3 million people worldwide are now making a primary or significant secondary income on the site. The eBay phenomenon has, of course, had ramifications for the retail sector in general, both impacting on traditional retailer&#39;s business by providing an alternative cross border market place and encouraging re-use as opposed to the purchase of new items. However, it&#39;s also given retailers, particularly the smaller niche players, access to a huge international market place by allowing them to create their own eBay stores. It&#39;s also had an impact on other associated services, for example helping to rejuvenate postal services and couriers, including operations such as the Royal Mail, who have seen an increase in the volume of parcels, as a result of the eBay market place. eBay&#39;s business model, which encourages reuse and recycling, is also credited with delivering significant environmental benefits. It&#39;s claimed that it reduces the global warming impact of the retail industry by extending the useful life of a wide array of products and because it&#39;s online it reducess the typical greenhouse gas emissions generated by retail stores and warehousing. A recent report commissioned by eBay states that buying, for example, a used HP laptop on eBay saves over half the emissions associated with a new one and that in 2007 the sale of used laptops on eBay resulted in a reduction of over 69,000 tons of GHG emissions. It&#39;s also proven to be a valuable resource for charities and fund raisers. Not only are they using it to sell donated goods but eBay raised &#163;7.5 million for charity in 2010 through a variety of means, including allowing users to register a charity of their choice in their account details and encouraging people to donate when paying via PayPal. The sheer scope and volume of transactions on eBay also enables it to reveal interesting purchasing, cultural and social trends. For example, recent research has revealed that in 2010 to 2011, sales of children&#39;s watches plummeted by 2.2 million (37.5%) on eBay in the UK as more children are now using a mobile phone to tell the time. eBay&#39;s research reveals that British kids are increasingly struggling to tell the time using traditional analogue clocks and are becoming increasingly reliant on their phone&#39;s digital display. Of course eBay has its downsides too. It struggles to police and deal with the increasing number of auctions for forgeries, stolen and illegal items and there are many scams aimed at fleecing the unwary eBayer of their hard earned cash. Believe it or not eBay has also given rise to a new affliction known as &quot;eBay addiction&quot; whereby users become addicted to the thrill of the auction process itself and spend thousands of pounds on &quot;bargains&quot; they neither need nor can afford. Now what time does the auction end for that electric, turbo powered, laser etched stainless steel bladed pizza cutter, I&#39;ve had my eye on all week?Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:03:14 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3688
Are you up for the challenge? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/jul/are-you-up-for-the-challenge/
Too small to be mentioned by the BBC on their national weather forecasts - ever - radio, TV anywhere - hello can anybody hear me? - yes we pay our license fee too… Anyway, sorry, rant over and getting back to my point, we have everything from the resurgent and world famous TT races, fantastic mass participations events like the parish walk and the end to end mountain bike race which seems to be on its way to achieving cult status. Our facilities for a huge variety of sports at the NSC are first class and the envy of many who visit to compete there. The many courses offered by Manx Sport and Recreation are a great opportunity for kids to try out a variety of activities and complement the many clubs and federations promoting all manner of sports to all ages. All in all there is plenty to get involved in and some notable dates for the diary, but one event above all others holds a special place in my annual calendar, The Adventure Team Challenge! This is an annual test of brain, brawn, endurance and above all teamwork which should not be missed. Organised as a charity event by the Children&#39;s Centre, and currently sponsored by PDMS, the Adventure Team Challenge manages to combine the best aspects of It&#39;s a Knockout and the Krypton factor with the more enjoyable bits of a corporate team building exercise. Every year between 15 and 20 teams assemble at a secret, and invariably stunningly scenic location to compete in a number of physical and mental challenges, some teams are fiercely competitive, others just enjoy the devious and often highly entertaining challenges set by the Children&#39;s Centre events team in what for them is a showpiece event. Whatever your level it is always both challenging and hugely enjoyable. One of the best things about doing this kind of thing with work mates is the hidden talents and character traits that may come to the fore when the competitive spirit (or extreme exhaustion) really kicks in. One of our regulars who can&#39;t ride a bike for toffee (you know who you are) just happens to have a compensatory talent for building complex machines out of straws and parcel tape which is often a vital requirement for success in the mountain biking event. Another time the ability to complete a Sudoku puzzle in the rain without the paper disintegrating proved to be decisive in an off road vehicle themed event. You will notice I didn&#39;t say driving - we mostly had to push them. All in all I always find I look forward to September with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, with the end to end and the Adventure Team Challenge on consecutive weekends there is plenty of variety but, much as I enjoy the atmosphere and challenge of the mountain bike event, nothing can beat the Adventure Team Challenge for fun, teamwork or the sheer unadulterated prestige of being the reigning champions!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:01:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3686
It&#39;s your vote use it! Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/aug/its-your-vote-use-it/
And here on the Isle of Man we have been trying it for longer than most. Tynwald is said to be the oldest parliament in the world in continuous existence, in 1881 the Isle of Man became the first country in the world to give women the vote, and since 2006 we are one of only a handful of nations to extend the franchise to 16 year olds. A pretty proud tradition in my opinion and one which will be refreshed again on the 29th of September when we have our 5 yearly opportunity to elect the House of Keys. There is a general feeling in many circles that the next few years could be quite challenging for the Isle of Man - the global economy, our relationship with the UK, our own public finances, employment and opportunity for all sections of society… These are challenges we will have to face, and after an unprecedented period of continuous economic growth and relative prosperity the next government will have a tough job helping to keep us all in the style to which we have become accustomed. Musing on this and listening to some of the opinions about our political representatives one hears in the pub or in the Chamber of Commerce for that matter which could be summed up as &#39;they are paid too much to do a job I wouldn&#39;t even consider - not worth the hassle....&#39; I think it is time to say that, firstly anyone willing to take on the challenge of standing deserves a hearing, and secondly if we don&#39;t like what we hear then we had better use that vote. Perhaps most important of all democracy is not a once in five years event, politicians are there to represent us and we should talk to them, as well as about them, if we have something worth saying. In fact the accessibility of government members is one of the great assets the Island portrays to the outside world as a differentiator to attract business and, compared with larger jurisdictions, this is a real asset. Overall, whatever your view of individual politicians or policies we are very lucky indeed to have the combination of stability and democratic accountability which our size and history permit. I think that we should all be prepared to engage in or at least listen to the debate, and exercise our right to vote on the 29th. With this in mind PDMS are very proud to be sponsoring the Manx Radio Election Website which is intended to provide a comprehensive and independent platform for all of us to understand the candidates we have, their strengths and policies, and perhaps their willingness to engage with a universally accessible record of their campaign.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:58:31 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3683
PDMS will be attending the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2012 News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/oct/pdms-will-be-attending-the-fort-lauderdale-international-boat-show-2012/
Fort Lauderdale is known as the &#39;Venice of America&#39; due to its expansive canal system, and will welcome the annual event to over 6 locations across the heart of the city. This year, the show (which is in its 53rd year), has an unprecedented amount of exhibitors including some of the world&#39;s best known ship registries and biggest super-yachts. Full Steam Ahead for PDMS Maritime Software Products PDMS has a dedicated team focusing on the maritime sector, working with clients, ranging from international ship registries to ship management companies. The maritime team has developed a keen insight into some of the issues and challenges the sector faces, and are putting this domain knowledge to good use to help our clients work more efficiently, which in turn enables them to deliver a better service to their clients. PDMS&#39; products being showcased at Florida include the DoxShare&#160;for managing and sharing key documents and our comprehensive solution for international ship registries,&#160;MARIS. Our maritime team is being represented by Andrew Cairns. If you&#39;re going to be in Fort Lauderdale and would like to arrange a meeting with Andrew, or would like to discuss our shipping products more generally, please email him on this address:&#160;Andrew.Cairns@pdms.comMon, 19 Oct 2015 16:58:17 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3682
Going for Gold! News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2011/sep/going-for-gold/
Just over 12 months ago, Microsoft announced that they were revamping their partner programme and introducing a whole raft of changes that would ensure that those companies using the Microsoft Partner logo, represented the very highest level of expertise with Microsoft technologies. So just what did this mean for PDMS? When we looked at the new partner programme in more depth we discovered that they were some fairly radical changes. The idea of partner &quot;level&quot; was to be removed with no more Gold or Certified Partners, instead everyone would be classed as a &quot;Microsoft Partner&quot; but the key differentiator was to be determined by a new set of competencies. There are 2 levels of competencies Silver and Gold, covering a wide range of areas from software and web development right through to mobility solutions and learning solutions. It soon became clear that to obtain a Gold Competency, companies really had to demonstrate a great deal of expertise and commitment. This included obtaining a number of satisfactory customer references, taking part in an annual customer satisfaction survey and ensuring that our technical teams held the right Microsoft qualifications. We decided to aim to achieve the software development Gold competency and the web development Gold competency as they best reflected the skills and expertise we needed to successfully deliver projects using PDMS&#39; own technology platform Foundations, which is based on Microsoft. NET. This meant that our developers had to pass a whole raft of new exams based on the latest Microsoft product version in the market. We needed a minimum of 4 developers with the appropriate qualifications to achieve each Gold competency so for 2 competencies that was 8 developers. To achieve the qualifications our developers were required to sit and pass up to 4 examinations each which was no mean feat. We set ourselves an ambitious maximum 10 month deadline to obtain both Gold competencies. To help support all those who had opted to take the new Microsoft exams, we provided study materials, study leave and an exam bonus. Our staff rose to the challenge, studying for, taking and passing exams at a very fast rate. To date over 13 members of staff have sat over 48 exams and we now have 9 qualified Microsoft Professional Developers with many more working towards this qualification. We&#39;ve really proud of the effort demonstrated by our technical teams and their commitment has helped us achieve 2 Gold competencies in a short space of time. So why is it so important for us to achieve Gold competencies? Well, we get to use a shiny new Microsoft Logo for marketing purposes but importantly, it helps PDMS to stand out from the crowd. A search on Microsoft&#39;s Pinpoint portal (www.pinpoint.com), which is their global partner showcase site, reveals that PDMS are one of a select few companies across the world who now hold both the Software and Web Development Gold competencies. We also benefit from a whole raft of additional services provided by Microsoft especially for their partners, including training and technical support and licensing benefits. However, now that we hold the Gold competencies we aren&#39;t resting on our laurels and are continuing to invest in the training and ongoing development of our teams. In fact, we are currently expanding and are looking to hire new software developers and project managers, so if you&#39;d like to work for the only Microsoft partner company on the Island holding 2 Gold competencies in software and web development, please get in touch!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:55:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3679
Do you Twitter? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/oct/do-you-twitter/
Over recent months Twitter, has been in the social media spotlight and at the forefront of news headlines on more than one occasion. Be it for&#160;assisting communities to organise mass clean-ups after the recent riots that took place in the UK, or unmasking celebrities who have taken out a super injunction. On 21st March 2006, one of the founders of Twitter sent the first &#39;tweet&#39; and thus a communications revolution was born. As of last week, Twitter now boasts 100 million active users, half of which are said to &#39;tweet&#39; on a daily basis. The figure represents an increase of 82% in user numbers since the beginning of 2011. Reading recent articles it is clear that there is no shortage of people who are ready and willing to label twitter as nothing more than &#39;tedious, offensive and distracting&#39;. The dictionary definition of Twitter is &#39;a short burst of inconsequential information&#39;. Personally, I believe that, (in this case,) it is not all &#39;in the name&#39;. Yes there is a lot of &#39;noise&#39; on the site, but this can be easily filtered out by carefully selecting the users that one chooses to follow. I firmly believe that Twitter is what you make it and the social network is only as good as the people you follow. Twitter recently acknowledged the fact that many of its users don&#39;t actively contribute to the site by &#39;tweeting&#39; from their own accounts. Instead they use the site to &#39;listen&#39; to what is happening in an industry or area which interests them. &quot;For many, getting the most out of Twitter isn&#39;t only about tweeting: 40 percent of our active users simply sign in to listen to what&#39;s happening in their world,&quot; the official twitter web site quoted in a related blog post. One example of Twitter&#39;s benefits is the global reach it gives to people around the world and even as far away as the International Space Station. One tweeter, (whose name may be familiar to you) is that of astronaut Nicole Stott. Nicole who is known on Twitter as @Astro_Nicole, is married to Manx businessman Chris Stott, and has been an ambassador for the Isle of Man in space, particularly whilst as a crew member of space shuttle Discovery&#39;s final mission. Nicole took twitter to space and provided her followers with the opportunity to see some truly fantastic and genuine images of the earth as seen from space. Police forces across the United Kingdom are also using twitter to communicate with the populations they serve. West Midlands Police, Supt. Mark Payne (@suptpaynewmp) kept his followers up to date whilst out on the beat during the riots in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, reassuring residents of the police presence in their areas. In October last year Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) used Twitter to publish every incident that was reported to them over a 24 hour period in a quest to raise awareness, and to allow members of the public to gain an understanding of the number and broad range of incidents they deal with, ranging from non police matters such as &#39;there is a rat in my house&#39; to serious offences including injuries to a child. The Isle of Man police have also started tweeting and can be found @iompolice. Working and living in Douglas, I found the updates from the police particularly useful during the TT period when roads were closed, diversions were in place and the number of general incidents increased. As a smartphone user (Over 55 % of active twitter users contribute tweets from a Smartphone or other mobile device) I was able to use my mobile phone to regularly stay updated and informed of any incidents, or areas to avoid whilst out and about. The Isle of Man has a large community of Twitter users with a mix of both business and individual accounts. The Isle of Man branch of the Social Media Club meets for lunch on every third Thursday of the month at Paparazzi in Douglas, where there is an opportunity to meet fellow tweeters and users of other social media platforms in person rather than in a virtual setting. Those in attendance share stories, network and discuss the latest technology developments. After launching in Hindi, Filipino, Malay and Simplified and Traditional Chinese in the coming weeks, Twitter will soon support 17 different languages, and is therefore set to grow at an even faster pace. Harvard law Professor Jonathan Zittrain was quoted saying &#39;The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful&#39; and I couldn&#39;t agree more. If you are yet to give Twitter a go perhaps head over to the site and have a browse. Setting up an account is straightforward and to help you find some of your favourite celebrities, news channels and brands, check out www.twitaholic.com.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:51:14 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3671
Keeping yourself to yourself Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2011/dec/keeping-yourself-to-yourself/
Once there, it is nearly impossible to retrieve and the likelihood of it being picked up by an online directory aggregating data found all over the web, is high. Information is sometimes bought and used by legitimate companies through data exchanges for targeted marketing, but it can also be used by criminals to commit identity theft. Obviously we should all take care over how much of our personal information we upload to the internet (the usual suspect being loose security on social networks), but often it is out of our hands and a third party is responsible for the breach of data protection. What can you do to make sure your information is secure? Google has introduced a suite of features around managing our online profile, reputation and personal data. The &#39;Me on the Web&#39; series is designed to enlighten internet users about best practice in terms of keeping your data secure online and empower them to take control of their own information. Google - Me on the Web You can use the Me on the Web feature in two ways, firstly Get notified when your personal data appears on the web and then to Remove unwanted content that might have turned up. When you sign up to get notified when your personal data appears on the web, you are creating alerts for your name, phone number, etc. Google will then alert you by email if that information appears online. If you find content online which you&#39;re unhappy about, you can take steps to remove that content from appearing in search results. You need to find out who controls the content. If it is coming from a page you control, for example your own social networking account, you need to change the settings with that account. If it is coming from a page someone else controls, you need to contact them and request that the content is removed from the web. Once you&#39;ve done that you can contact Google and have the URL or cached copy of that page removed. The Me on the Web service is really useful, especially when you consider that it takes on average 500 days to discover your identity has been stolen, and a further 300 hours to undo the damage with duped creditors after that. We&#39;ve taken a quick look at some of the alternatives you can find on the web. Most charge a small subscription fee but there are some great free services too. www.Personal.com Features: Personal network Personal Data Vault Personal Search Identity Management &quot;Personal enables individuals to own, control access to and benefit from their personal information bouncing around the digital world&quot;. This site is described as &#39;personal identification management site&#39;, and gives users the ability to create, populate and manage private data &#39;vaults&#39; within a private network - these vaults can be used for any information at all - phone numbers, logins to online banking, recipes. Requests can be sent and permissions granted for data sharing. CEO Shane Green says, &quot;It&#39;s all about transparency and control. We believe the more people have that ability to aggregate data and set permissions on who gets it, the more they&#39;re going to be willing to share data with companies and marketers that can deliver real value for them.&quot; myID.com Features: Instant alerts if identity thieves try to open a credit account in your name Real time alerts for online privacy and identity protection Helps to protect your personal identity The site was bought by credit reporting company Experian in May so understandably this site focuses on identity theft and offers its users real time fraud alerts, continuous monitoring and protection of your online profile and lots of advice on how to keep secure online. They have a live support team to help you if an issue arises. reputation.com Features: repair your reputation create your presence hide your personal info As the name suggests, this site focuses more on reputation than security and can help you to manage your entire web presence. Subscriptions are available for individuals and businesses and could be used in conjunction with a corporate PR strategy. Note that the &#39;repair your reputation&#39; feature claims help to suppress a bad rep by &#39;eliminating unwanted links in your top Google results&#39;. Individual subscription - &#163;6.58 per month for one year Business subscription - poa Identity theft is one of the most frustrating situations to find yourself in, as anyone who has had their identity stolen will tell you. Next time you&#39;re on the internet, consider taking the time to find out whether your personal information is visible on the web. If it is, catching it early could save you time and money.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:48:48 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3669
PDMS to exhibit at the ThinkGCloud 2012 Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/oct/pdms-to-exhibit-at-the-thinkgcloud-2012-conference/
PDMS will be attending Think G-Cloud 2012 as part of the UK Cloud Alliance, along with fellow Cloud Alliance members, Star and Ubertas. The UK Cloud Alliance (UKCA) is a collective of screened and trusted suppliers working together to serve UK businesses, by supplying them with the best that cloud computing has to offer. The Think G-Cloud event is an opportunity to discuss key areas of policy with leading decision-makers and industry peers. It represents a unique opportunity to hear from government IT leaders, academics and business experts on the way forward for cloud computing. Speakers include; Andy Nelson, Chief Information Officer, UK Government and Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Justice Steve VanRoekel, Chief Information Officer, United States Government Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission Alongside public sector representatives, more than 30 leading and specialised service providers, (including PDMS, STAR, Ubertas, IBM, SAP, Symantic and Terremark), will be available throughout the day to discuss how their products and services can help with issues and challenges. With over 300 registered delegates, the conference is also an excellent metalworking opportunity, allowing attendees to share experiences, ideas and concerns with those who are facing the same or similar challenges, as well as meeting businesses which offer cloud-based solutions and products, face to face.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:43:25 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3667
A look back over 2011 Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/jan/a-look-back-over-2011/
The Christmas festivities now seem like a distant memory and I am now eagerly awaiting the signs of spring in the hope of a warm British summer. As I sit here reflecting on 2011, I can&#39;t help but feel extremely proud of what PDMS achieved during the last year, both as an organisation but more importantly - collectively as a team of individuals. We are now in our second year at Global House and with our wind and solar energy monitoring station fully installed and a number of new faces amongst our team; we are well and truly settled at the Isle of Man Business Park. Our Sales team started a busy year exhibiting at ICE, the international gaming exhibition which was held in London and attracted visitors from across the globe. Next stop was the National Police Collaboration Conference in Coventry, where we joined forces with our partners in the Police National Legal Database team to highlight the benefits of IT collaboration. Our projects with a number of international Ship Registries continued and Director, Bruce McGregor, jetted off to foreign shores (although this year they were somewhat closer to home!) to attend the Red Ensign conference in Jersey and the Monaco Yacht Show. We also started working on major new projects for several new international clients including the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas Maritime Authority. Whilst our sales team were keeping busy, a number of our developers had their heads in books. PDMS has been a Microsoft Gold partner for a number of years, however Microsoft have recently made significant changes to the Partner Network Programme to ensure that those awarded with Gold competencies represent the highest level of expertise with Microsoft technologies. Companies are now able to earn either Gold or Silver competency in numerous categories for individual competencies. In 2011, a large number of developers at PDMS studied for and successfully passed Microsoft qualifications. The new Microsoft Partnership Programme is the most demanding to dateand it was cause for celebration when we were one of the select few to attain the new Gold competencies in Software and Web Development. Our environmental project was a major priority for us in 2011 and we continued to work hard towards achieving our ISO 14000:1 environmental management standard. In December we used our recycled drinks cans to construct our entry for the Save the Children &#39;Festival of Trees.&#39; As a member of the Social Club I can definitely say I got my contribution&#39;s worth! Events ranged from sailing days to TT course pub crawls, coasteering , an Easter BBQ and treasure hunt, to Castletown &#39;revisited&#39; when we took a trip down memory lane to visit our old haunts. The PDMS social committee always make a valiant effort to cater for all tastes with the variety of socials that are planned. On a corporate level we continued to support both Junior Achievement (sponsoring the Company Programme) and the Children&#39;s Centre (sponsoring the Adventure Team Challenge event) as our primary local charities. 2011 was an election year on the island and our Digital Design team developed the Manx Radio Election website which helped to encourage island residents to find out more about their potential political representatives. Throughout the year our staff also remained committed to donating their personal time to volunteer in a number of the island&#39;s junior schools as Junior Achievement volunteers, business mentors to sixth form students, Go-karters, marshals at the Children&#39;s Centre&#39;s Adventure Team Challenge, getaway drivers for &#39;Age Concern&#39; Jail Breakers, and a team of staff took to the pool to complete a 5km Swimathon - all in the name of charity. The start of November brought excitement as the Isle of Man Newspaper&#39;s &#39;Awards for Excellence&#39; approached. PDMS had been shortlisted in the &#39;Company of the Year Category&#39; and our client Manx Gas was shortlisted in the &#39;Excellence in use of Technology&#39; category for their &#39;GAS&#39; system, which was implemented to assist Manx Gas engineers and surveyors out on site, and reduce administration directly related to the gas conversion project currently underway on the Island. It was a fantastic evening that really united and showcased the sheer excellence and diversity of the island&#39;s community, with the ultimate highlight being that PDMS scooped the award for &#39;Company of the Year.&#39; Winning the award was a fantastic achievement for us and an extremely fitting end to another busy and successful year .The award was testament to all the hard work and dedication that our staff put in to their day to day work. We are starting the New Year with a recruitment campaign and are currently looking for new developers to play a part in what will hopefully be another busy and successful year.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:28:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3657
Monkey Business Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/feb/monkey-business/
The most memorable and beneficial session, for me, was one which discussed the outages Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered last year... Amazon&#39;s Web Services (AWS) is a collection of remote computing services which together make up a cloud computing platform. This platform is used by countless household names including The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, TweetDeck, Foursquare, Ticketmaster and of course, the Amazon websites. The AWS cloud platform allows businesses &#39;instant elasticity&#39;; open, flexible and secure hosting, and crucially, to &#39;pay-as-they-go&#39; without long term commitments. It can be a remarkably economical way of getting things done, with consumers only paying for what they use, and without being tied into a contract. In actuality, what this means for businesses, is that they can move their information from data centres which are geographically near their premises, to cloud &#39;regions&#39;, anywhere in the world. These &#39;regions&#39; can provide a better service at a fraction of the cost. Cloud computing is, they say, a &#39;game changer&#39; and the most powerful computing development to become mainstream in a generation. And that&#39;s all great of course, until it goes wrong. In 2011 AWS suffered a series of outages, one lasting for 5 days. It affected thousands of businesses; some of which lost revenue as a result. Some developers saw the AWS outage as a warning of what happens when we rely too heavily on cloud. The real failures don&#39;t just belong to AWS, however, but also to the sites that use it. The problem for sites that were brought down by the AWS outage, is their own failure to implement one of the key design principles of the cloud; to design with failure in mind. AWS explicitly advised developers to design a site&#39;s architecture so that it was resilient to occasional failures and outages. This sound advice was ignored by many. As one blogger pointed out at the time,&#160;&quot;In short, if your systems failed in the Amazon cloud… it wasn&#39;t Amazon&#39;s fault. You either deemed an outage of this nature an acceptable risk or you failed to design for Amazon&#39;s&#160;cloud computing&#160;model. The strength of cloud computing is that it puts control over application availability in the hands of the application developer and not in the hands of your IT staff, data center limitations, or a managed services provider.&quot; Even Amazon customers affected by the outages, prefix their criticism with praise for AWS, and what it has enabled them to do with their business,&#160;such as BigDoor&#39;s CEO Keith Smith: &quot;AWS has allowed us to scale a complex system quickly, and extremely cost effectively. At any given point in time, we have 12 database servers, 45 app servers, six static servers and six analytics servers up and running. Our systems auto-scale when traffic or processing requirements spike, and auto-shrink when not needed in order to conserve dollars.&quot; The seminar focused on a case study of one of the companies using AWS which was unaffected by the outages and the reasons why they, unlike so many other companies, had survived unscathed. Netflix&#160;[www.netflix.com], the TV and movie streaming company, has been using AWS for two years, and as part of their cloud deployment strategy, have been developing their application in conjunction with tools to &#39;kill off&#39; at random, instances and services within their architecture. While one department works on improving the recommendation engine, or the payment system, another department works on a tool designed to break it. Netflix&#39;s objective is to design a cloud architecture, where individual components can fail without affecting the availability of the entire system. As John Ciancutti, VP of Personalisation Technology at Netflix explains it,&#160;&quot;If we aren&#39;t constantly testing our ability to succeed despite failure, then it isn&#39;t likely to work when it matters most - in the event of an unexpected outage.&quot; The original tool was called their &#39;Chaos Monkey&#39;. There are now 7 &#39;monkeys&#39; in total, each performing a different, but ultimately destructive job. Their goal is to induce various kinds of failures, detect abnormal conditions, and test the ability to survive them; Chaos Monkey&#160;- randomly shuts down a part of the Nefix architecture to see if it would still hold up Latency Monkey -&#160;simulates service degradation by inducing artificial delays Conformity Monkey -&#160;shuts down instances that don&#39;t comply with best-practices Doctor Monkey -&#160;taps into health checks that run on each instance as well as monitoring other external signs of health (i.e. CPU load) to detect unhealthy instances Security Monkey&#160;- searches for security violations or vulnerabilities, such as improperly configured AWS security groups, and terminates the offending instances 10-18 Monkey -&#160;(Localization-Internationalization, or l10n-i18n) detects configuration problems in instances serving customers in multiple geographic regions, using different languages and character sets Chaos Gorilla -&#160;is similar to Chaos Monkey, but simulates an outage of an entire Amazon availability zone Perhaps if AWS had had their own &#39;monkey&#39; system, their outages wouldn&#39;t have occurred, or at least wouldn&#39;t have been quite so bad. This isn&#39;t to say that Netflix never goes down, it does. And after making much of their &#39;monkeys&#39;, this potentially embarrassing situation has been blamed on their legacy systems - which naturally don&#39;t have their own monkeys!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:22:29 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3655
Silicon London Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/mar/silicon-london/
Having acquired our own headquarters in the Isle of Man Business Park in 2009, we are now also looking to expand our London office, and have been seeking larger office premises in the capital. Currently based in Fitzrovia, we came across research carried out by property experts Knight Frank into technology companies and the commercial property market in London, which makes for interesting reading. According to the research, the technology industry has proved resilient in the face of tough economic conditions, and this is no more evident than in the increasing uptake of office space in Central London. Slack left in the commercial property market in Central London by the decline of the financial services sector, is increasingly being picked up by Britain&#39;s technology and telecoms industry (which according to the London Stock Exchange is now worth more, as a whole, than it was in 2007). Whilst many of these companies are &#39;foreign&#39;, it is Britain, or more specifically, the capital, where they are choosing to locate their offices. The increased demand for office space coming from tech companies (tech firms acquired 1.3 million sq. ft. of office space in 2011, compared with 640,000 sq. ft. in the previous year), contrasts greatly with falliing demand across the market as a whole, an, demonstrates the growing significance of the tech industry as a proportion of the UK economy. James Roberts, head of commercial research at Knight Frank said &#39;if office demand from tech firms doubles during an economic slowdown, it will be interesting to see what happens when growth improves.&quot; John Snow, head of central London offices, explained, &quot;That companies, like Apple, Google, and Facebook want to be in London over other European cities is a great vote of confidence in the capital. This is a time of huge change for London, with foreign influence growing [in both the leasing and investment market]….London is a business-friendly environment, which is the lure for overseas companies and investors. I expect this globalisation of London to continue.&quot; It isn&#39;t just London&#39;s &#39;Silicon Roundabout&#39; (the Old Street roundabout area) which is witnessing an influx of bespectacled techies; there were almost as many technology sector property deals struck in W1 last year as there were in EC1, although East London remains a booming tech area. Aside from the Silicon Roundabout, &#39;tech clusters&#39; have sprung up in Clerkenwell, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia and the South Bank. This move away from the tech industry&#39;s former hub of East London towards the capital&#39;s premium property locations, repeats the trend of the early naughties, when native technology companies made the leap from the Thames Valley to the capital. Established tech firms are also moving into more &#39;traditional&#39; areas of the city, proving that requirements and desirability outweigh location. Google has taken over 150,000 sq. ft. of space in the Central St Giles complex (to the east of Oxford Street), and Spanish telecommunications giant Telef&#243;nica has recently moved into a 50,000sq ft. property in Regent&#39;s Street. Matthew Key, chief executive of Telef&#243;nica Digital, said, &quot;London is undoubtedly at the forefront of the current digital revolution and was a natural choice for us to establish our new headquarters in. [It] is arguably the biggest hub for technology startups outside Silicon Valley and a global centre for the media and advertising industries. It attracts the best talent and, for an international business such as ours, acts as a unique bridge between Europe and the Americas.&quot; The decision behind relocating tech businesses to London, goes beyond the geographical advantages of sitting astride the&#160;American and European markets. London&#39;s workforce is also exceptional. It is Europe&#39;s most culturally diverse city, and 45% of the population is aged between 20-44. This makes London a very attractive proposition when you consider that the average employee age at Google is 31, and at Facebook it&#39;s just 26. Nokia recently relocated their headquarters to London from Farnborough despite it being only 30 minutes by train from Central London, citing an inability to attract quality staff. One high profile tech firm which has bucked the trend is Twitter, choosing to opt for Dublin, (despite encouragement from David Cameron and Boris Johnson), in part due to Ireland&#39;s lower rate of corporation tax. It should be noted, however, that their advertising offices are based in London&#39;s West End. We have all long-known that the technology and engineering sectors are likely to be the most robust during tough economic times, but what is most surprising about this research is just how rapid the rise of the technology industry has been in the UK. At PDMS, we are firmly committed to our Isle of Man headquarters and are currently recruiting for a number of new positions to help expand our team on the Island. Our London office, however, provides a vital connection to UK and global markets, as well as access to ideas and talent which complement the many benefits we enjoy on the Isle of Man.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:17:27 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3653
Should You Be Interested in Pinterest? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/may/should-you-be-interested-in-pinterest/
Currently one of the fastest growing websites in Europe (12 million users and a month on month growth of over 800%) the site has been steadily growing its addicted base of users in the US for a couple of years now. And it seems that the infectious activity of &#39;pinning&#39; has finally made the leap over the pond to our shores. What is Pinterest? Pinterest&#39;s mission is to &#39;connect everyone in the world through the &#39;things&#39; (images) they find interesting via a global platform of inspiration and idea sharing. Pinterest allows its users to share &#39;pins&#39; on both Twitter and Facebook which allows users to share and interact with a broad community.&#39; Why is Pinterest so successful? The website started off almost exclusively the preserve of women from the Midwest with more than a passing interest in home d&#233;cor, baking and arts and crafts. However, the type of people now using the site has become far more diverse and there is an ever-growing army of &#39;pinners&#39;. The man behind the site, Ben Silbermann, founded Cold Brew Labs in 2008 and their only product so far, Pinterest was launched as a closed beta in March 2010. Despite its 12 million users, the site is still invitation-only open beta. Here are some of the reasons Pinterest is so successful; Simplicity As with most really successful websites, the idea behind Pinterest is very simple - it&#39;s essentially a pinboard aggregating &#39;pinned&#39; images from its user&#39;s own personal pin boards. An article on tech blog Mashable recently explained Pinterest&#39;s success thus, &#39;Pinterest&#39;s secret weapon is the simplicity of its design, which allows for excessive scrolling of content with minimal distraction.&#39; Imagery Pinterest is also riding a general trend away from written content, towards pictorial. As Guy Levine, CEO of Return on Digital, says, &#39;Perhaps in an effort to mesmerise users, images take up the majority of space, with comments and repins kept neatly tucked under each image. All action buttons remain hidden until they are scrolled over.&#39; He goes on to say, &quot;Google is bringing&#160;images directly into its search results. Facebook is based around images…others will follow.&quot; Social Media Burn-out The site is also very well timed. Reports are growing of social media users becoming increasingly disillusioned with constant status updates, check-ins and the complex world of relationship statuses. Pinterest offers a refuge for burnt out social media users. Linked by Interests rather than social groups Like Twitter, users are linked by their interests, rather than existing, offline friendship groups. Value for businesses: Facebook users famously became irritated by, and ultimately resistant to being marketed to on &#39;their&#39; social platform,&#160;leaving Facebook unable to fully maximise the potential in terms of marketing, to a 300 million-strong audience. Pinterest, or&#160;rather the marketers who use the website on behalf of their company or brand, seem to have learnt from this. Pinterest users, creating pinboards on say, wedding ideas, or inspiration for a new kitchen, seem to welcome appropriate suggestions&#160;from marketers. After all, searching for inspiration and ideas are what motivates people to visit the site Will it last? Companies are seizing the opportunity which Pinterest presents them with, especially those marketing to the site&#39;s core demographic - women. Fashion, food and lifestyle brands are amongst the most prolific marketers on the site, and analysts predict others will follow. Conversions, from suggestion to sales are strong, and this is very promising news for a social enterprise; start-ups have, traditionally struggled to successfully monetise their websites. Some major American Brands including Land&#39;s End and Victoria&#39;s Secret are currently using Pinterest and, as with Facebook, it&#39;s surely only a matter of time before it really takes off in the UK. So, if like me, you work in marketing and you think you&#39;ve got to grips with how your organisation can benefit from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn - it&#39;s now time to look at Pinterest and focus on pictures instead of words.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:14:05 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3652
BYOT-Bring Your Own Technology Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/may/byot-bring-your-own-technology/
We&#39;re keen for our staff to have a great work/life balance and it&#39;s always been seen as counter-productive to stop our staff being able to manage both, during office hours, and make use of the company&#39;s assets outside of hours. We don&#39;t block social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Our staff are our number one asset, and also our number one ambassadors. We encourage them to tell everyone about the work that we&#39;re undertaking, the new technologies that we&#39;re dealing with, and the new trends within the IT business as a whole. Many years ago, at a corporate level, we standardised the hardware environments that we provide to our staff. This was very appropriate at the time, with maintainability, security and compatibility being our key requirements. However, now that so many of our line-of-business systems are online, needing little more than a browser to access them, we&#39;ve started to become less dependent on specific devices. In some areas of the business we&#39;ve seen that our standardisation itself is counterproductive - why does our Managing Director need a similar if not the same computer as one of our Lead Developers? Many members of staff have their own personal hardware; computers at home, iPads, tablets, various smartphones, the list is endless. Our staff have consciously decided upon these technologies, and they want to use them to bring themselves closer to their work environment - so why wouldn&#39;t we let them. So we&#39;ve invested in time and technology to allow our staff to use these devices with the online systems and services that we use to run our business. So you could say we are already some way ahead of a workplace trend which is really gaining traction at the moment - Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT). BYOT essentially means that staff can chose what hardware they would like to use at work - everything from PCs and laptops to smartphones and tablets. Because they choose it, very often the hardware they choose is based on what they like to use (along with the type of role they have and dependent on the software they use day to day), or have been using outside the office. Recent surveys show that BYOT is gaining momentum, although different organisations have different attitudes to the benefits and risks it introduces. A survey covering 17 countries by business technology company Avanade found that 88% of executives said employees were using their own personal computing technologies for business purposes. Absolute Software found that 64% of IT managers surveyed thought it was too risky to let personal devices be integrated into the business network. However 52% of companies allowed some form of access. Another survey by Cisco found that although 48% said their company would never authorise employees to bring their own devices, 57% agreed that some employees use personal devices without consent. As with most technological mind-set changes, BYOT has varying degrees of implementation. Some companies are merely reacting to feedback from staff about the hardware they like to use. Others are allowing staff to buy the technology they use - even though it&#39;s purchased by the company it remains the individual&#39;s property when they no longer work for the company. There are a range of approaches, each with different benefits and obstacles to the users and the corporate IT department. Three major areas of consideration that we have had are as follow: 1. Personal devices are getting smarter, why shouldn&#39;t we use them at work? The majority of our staff have devices that are cutting edge, and will outperform the company&#39;s corporate personal devices. We&#39;ve found that members of staff primarily dealing in communications (email, instant messaging, telephone) are relatively easily converted across to the BYOT model. All these services are bundled into the vast majority of modern devices and we can utilise them out of the box. It makes vast amounts of sense to leverage the power and features of these devices. 2.&#160;Preparing the core systems. We needed to make sure that the core applications that staff use are accessible from various devices. This is being achieved by implementation of purely browser based applications, and/or remote connectivity to infrastructure within the company&#39;s infrastructural real estate. Once a company has the use of the internet and has invested in browser-based applications that are available online, all the time - the hardware that&#39;s used to connect to these applications starts to become irrelevant. 3.&#160;Security is paramount, how can we mitigate risk? Personal devices are able to store and do more with corporate data, but the anti-malware market for personal devices lags behind other hardware. Hacking into personal devices is appealing to hackers, and employees need to understand the security implications of connectivity and the data that is being transferred between devices. We&#39;re fortunate to have IT savvy staff, and have also invested in ensuring that our centralised systems are themselves secure. At PDMS, we are yet to get to the point where staff members are bringing their own workstations into the office. Although in this current wave of change, I can certainly see key members of staff able to work entirely from their own personal devices - I&#39;m not far off myself.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:09:20 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3650
Best Business Apps for iPhone Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/sep/best-business-apps-for-iphone/
The iPhone is, these days, a seriously viable alternative to the Blackberry, due in part to the multitude of apps being developed to help business people use their phone for work. Here, I&#39;ve put together a list of some of my favourite apps for iPhone and iPad for business users. There are lots of apps which help you work on the go, collaborate and make your business travel easier. If you&#39;ve just made the switch from a Blackberry to an iPhone, then these apps should be all you need to help you work whilst on the move. If you need to be able to work on the go, without carting your laptop around with you, you&#39;ll need either QuickOffice or Apple&#39;s version, iWorkQuickOffice. QuickOffice Of the two big hitters in workplace apps, QuickOffice would be our choice in terms of usability and value for money. The app allows users to manage local files, access cloud accounts, and work with your email attachments so you can work anywhere, anytime - online and offline. This app includes Word, Excel, and Powerpoint as well as enabling you to view PDFs, and will set you back &#163;13.99. (If you don&#39;t fancy spending the &#163;13.99 on the app suite, you can purchase QuickSheet and QuickWord individually for about &#163;4.00). iWork Apples own iWork app. The suite of apps (Keynote, Pages and Numbers) are Apple&#39;s answer to Microsoft Office and are 100% compatible with all major file types. If you want to be able to work out-and-about without taking your laptop with you, these are the apps for you. Keynote, Pages and Numbers will each set you back &#163;6.99. If it&#39;s remote working and collaboration you&#39;re looking for, again iTunes has some great solutions; Huddle Huddle provides cloud-based content and collaboration software, allowing you to instantly access your files, tasks and &#39;what&#39;s new&#39; feed. Through this app, content from your Huddle workspace is automatically downloaded to your device for offline reading. Benefits include file-sharing and project collaboration. One drawback is that to use the app, users must have an account with Huddle which is &#163;5 per month for a single workspace with 1GB storage. Company-wide subscriptions to the range of Huddle services are also available. DropBox DropBox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, documents, and videos anywhere. Users can share their files with others through their DropBox, rather than emailing attachments. DropBox really comes into its own when distributing a lot of files, or files to a number of people. DropBox is also a storage facility, if you break or lose your devices, files are always secure in your DropBox. Trello Trello is a free cloud-based service which helps you to organise and manage one-off projects and on-going work. Because it&#39;s cloud-based the web and app versions synch in real-time and you can share your Trello board with offsite team members (contractors on a house extension?) or your sales team managing leads. iThoughts This mind-mapping app, helps you to &#39;visually organize&#39; your thoughts during brainstorming sessions, present and share task lists and revision notes and a multitude of other uses. Features include hyperlinking to websites and other mind maps, linking maps by theme and adding notes. (&#163;5.49) Roambi Analytics Vizualiser With a focus on great design, Roambi apps are all about presenting business reports and data (from many common business intelligence systems) stunningly. With varying levels of complexity within one app, you can create custom presentations just by importing data from Excel. If you&#39;re using the iPad version, you can easily create charts and graphs which are interactive, for example more information is shown when you tap a segment of a pie chart. &#39;Roambi Analytics quickly transforms existing business reports and data - from many common business intelligence systems - into stunning visual displays that capture the attention of users.&#39; Single User account - &#163;69.99 per year. For business people who travel often, there are a wide range of apps designed to make business travel easier. Kayak Kayak was founded in 2004 and the websites (there are local versions in 14 countries) are very successful. The app supports the websites with little feature difference between the two. Kayak helps users find the best deals on flights, hotels and allows for filtering of search results depending on preference. Free. WorldMate There are over 9 million travellers already using this app, which is a strong endorsement! This app has useful features if you&#39;re travelling for business or pleasure. Features include; flights search flight delay alerts hotel booking (bookings are automatically added to the online travel planner which is synced with calendar) travel itinerary car rentals local weather information easy to share travel planner with colleagues, family and friends UrbanSpoon If you&#39;re in an unfamiliar city and unsure of where to eat, this app could really help you out. Just shake the iPhone and the Urbanspoon slot machine will suggest a restaurant, using the phone&#39;s GPS. UrbanSpoon can also tell you what&#39;s nearby but not directly where you are. You can also use the app to make a reservation and of course check in at your favourite eateries. There&#39;s also a search feature so you can set the budget and decide on French or Thai food. [UrbanSpoon presently only covers the USA, Canada and cities in the UK and Australia.] So there&#39;s my round up of useful business apps, but whilst I&#39;m on the subject of useful apps it would be remiss of me not to mention a great new app developed by PDMS for the Police National Legal Database. The Ask the Police App provides users with information on a wide range of non-emergency &#39;policing&#39; issues including answers to questions such as &quot;what is the law relating to clamping?&quot; to &quot;I&#39;ve knocked over an animal, do I have to report it?&quot;. The app is free to download - take a look and let me know what you think, we&#39;d love to hear your feedback.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:49:53 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3643
But isn&#39;t Marketing just Advertising? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/oct/but-isnt-marketing-just-advertising/
But isn&#39;t marketing just advertising? I was recently chatting to a friend&#39;s teenage daughter who was debating different career options. She asked me what I did for a living and when I explained that I worked in marketing she replied &quot;ah isn&#39;t that just advertising - coming up with cool slogans and meerkats and stuff&quot;. Well not exactly I explained, &quot;So what do you do in a typical day?&quot; she asked and &quot;Why is a job in marketing so interesting?&quot; So here goes, a typical Monday in the life of a very busy marketer. After the obligatory cup of coffee, the day starts with a quick catch up with the rest of the team (Katie in the Isle of Man and Alice in London) using the marketing team&#39;s Trello Board to review all the urgent tasks for the week. Trello is a great online tool for helping teams manage tasks, it&#39;s basically a very easy to use, on-line whiteboard where you create cards for tasks and assign them to different people. If you get the chance - take a look yourself at www.trello.com. Priorities for this week include making the final arrangements for an event at which we are exhibiting. Our CDP (Controlled Document Portal) product helps organisations manage, control and share key documents securely in the cloud, and it is now available for the whole of the UK public sector to purchase on their GCloud framework. We are exhibiting at a major conference taking place in London, ThinkGCloud, so have to ensure that we&#39;ve got everything we need including stands, literature, monitors, presentations etc. and that our representative on the stand is fully briefed. We also need to quickly update our website to let everyone know that we&#39;ll be there and on which stand they can find us. Now that everything for the exhibition is in hand, the next task is drafting an award entry for one of our clients. The deadline is looming for the TechweekEurope Awards and we&#39;ve got a great entry for the mobile category with a project that has helped improve customer satisfaction and saved our client over half a million pounds. Industry awards are a great way of generating PR for both PDMS and our clients and we&#39;ve got such a good story to tell that writing the entry isn&#39;t too challenging. This project would make a really interesting video case study and I add this idea to Trello with a quick e-mail to our client to check that they wouldn&#39;t have any objections to having a starring role. Another cup of coffee and a sneaky chocolate from the rather large box at the end of the office, helps stimulate my writing skills. Entry now completed and forwarded on to our client for their comments, and a quick glance at Trello tells me that my next task is to review and assess the results of a recent campaign we ran in a public sector bulletin, that helped get our name in front of 40,000 potential public sector clients in the UK. Although we do a great deal of work in the public sector, we also work with clients across a range of sectors and my calendar now reminds me that I&#39;m due in a meeting to discuss our growing maritime business. A member of our business development team is off to the International Boat show in Fort Lauderdale Florida, so we discuss how the marketing team can best support his activities whilst he is out there and also catch up on some interesting new maritime related product developments. The meeting generates a whole new set of marketing activities from setting up a new maritime portal through to some detailed market research to make sure that all of our product development efforts are focused on helping resolve real business issues for our clients (and prospective clients!). I add these to the Trello Board and wonder if I&#39;ll ever get to the point where the number of completed tasks is larger than the number of outstanding tasks! After lunch, I catch up with Jim our designer to review some design changes to our website and some infographics we are producing on canvas to display on the walls of our new London offices. We&#39;ve recently moved to new premises in Chancery Lane, which provide our London team with more spacious surroundings and lots of white walls that need brightening up. We are really fortunate to have a great in-house designer whose skills cover both online and printed media and who provides a great service, not only to our external clients, but also to our own marketing department. Designs agreed and after a short debate (over another cup of coffee) with colleagues about the merits of Google+ and its potential use in the business to business sector, it&#39;s time to dial into a meeting with our partners in the UK Cloud Alliance. The UK Cloud Alliance is a consortium of IT service providers who provide specialist support to companies to help them solve their most pressing operational challenges whilst also delivering financial and operational benefits. PDMS together with Star and Ubertas (3 key members of the alliance), recently held a workshop in Scotland to explain how the cloud can add real value when it is used to deliver key line of business systems, above and beyond the current focus on &quot;utility&quot; type applications such as e-mail. This meeting provides us with an opportunity to review the feedback from the workshop and discuss our plans for future joint marketing activities. A quick glance at my watch and as usual the day has flown by, just one hour left to catch up on some e-mails, review our website analytics and any Google alerts which mention PDMS and, finally in the last 10 minutes of the day, attempt to read some of the many, but very useful, marketing and industry bulletins that have landed in my inbox. So there you go - no meerkats or slick slogans - but from my personal experience, a career in marketing, whatever the specific business sector, is varied and interesting. Yes it&#39;s often challenging due to the constant and fast rate of change, there are always new technologies and channels emerging which help us build and maintain relationships with our customers, and new products and services to launch - but at the end of the day we wouldn&#39;t have it any other way!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:44:52 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3641
Head in the Clouds Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/nov/head-in-the-clouds/
The issues they were dealing with regarding document management and collaboration within their organisation are fairly typical of those faced by many businesses, so I thought it would be worth while exploring their situation in more detail. Our client is a medium sized organisation, operating from multiple jurisdictions around the world, and needed to provide, not only their own direct employees but also sub-contractors, partners and sometimes customers, with secure access to the latest version of their key documents. Like many organisations, their staff often stored key documents in multiple locations, for example on central file servers, as well as their own laptops; this led to people often accessing incorrect and outdated versions of documents. Some documents were also stored on their corporate intranet and although this dealt with some of the versioning issues, it didn&#39;t allow staff to access these documents when they were out in the field without access to their corporate network. Our client&#39;s workforce is located all over the world and their employees spend a great deal of time travelling, often visiting places where establishing an internet connection isn&#39;t possible. So, although they were looking for an online solution, they also had to consider offline access to documents too. Most companies have important information that they want to share, not only within the business but also with their partners and customers, and our client, with no other easy way to share documents, was aware of the potential security implications of e-mailing sensitive documentation back and forth. It is far too easy to accidentally send an important or sensitive document to the wrong person, inadvertently causing a security breach. In addition, not being able to quickly and easily locate key documents was increasing administration overheads and was becoming ever more frustrating for their staff. They had no fast way to search for documents or content, which ranged from a word or excel file to a pdf or jpeg. Problems, including frequent use of incorrect versions of documents, and having no document audit trail, also threatened to undermine their efforts to obtain the ISO9001 quality accreditation. Having identified their key problems around corporate documentation, the negative impact it was having on their business and the resulting benefits they could obtain from implementing more control, our client then set out to evaluate their options. Very quickly they identified the need for a solution that was delivered as a &quot;cloud&quot; based service as it would reduce the burden on their internal infrastructure, reduce storage costs and could be easily and cost effectively scaled as their business grew. In addition, a completely managed service would reduce internal IT resource demands and provide additional benefits such as full disaster recovery. During initial research into the market they reviewed a number of possible options, one of which was Dropbox. Dropbox is a really useful application that allows individuals to access files across multiple devices (e.g. PC, iPad or Android Smart Phone), however, it didn&#39;t provide our client with the level of control or security they needed over their own documents at an enterprise level. They then went on to evaluate more complex solutions based on enterprise platforms, such as SharePoint, but they didn&#39;t quite fit the bill either. They also identified a multitude of different &quot;off the shelf&quot; cloud based document management solutions, but none of these ticked all the boxes when it came to security and flexible permission models and importantly, providing a solution that could be used offline. This is where PDMS came in. We provided our client with an online portal that allows them to store all of their documents (no matter what the format) in one central repository with all the features you would expect including version control, audit history and permissions management. Importantly, our solution also provides the facility to download frequently used documents in a secure database which can also be accessed when offline and comes with added extras, such as the ability to publish selected &quot;public&quot; documents to a chosen website as well as e-mail notifications, to let people (only those who want to) know when an important document has been updated. We are pleased to report that our client has been successfully using our &quot;Controlled Document Portal&quot; (CDP) for over 12 months and is already reaping the benefits - one of which has been their successful ISO 9001 accreditation. Our CDP has also recently been awarded a place in the UK Government&#39;s new G-Cloud store which means that anybody in the UK public sector can purchase the CDP without going out to tender. In the next few months, we also hope to receive IL2 information assurance accreditation which is one of the UK Government&#39;s key data security standards. Although electronic and online document management has been around for years we are now seeing a renewed interest in &quot;document control&quot;. Part of the reason for this is that, according to a recent report by the Aberdeen Group, in the absence of a well-defined document management system, end-users will overlook security and compliance in favour of getting the job done by taking advantage of free and readily available alternatives. This means that many organisations could find some of their key and sensitive documentation stored inappropriately and without their knowledge in cloud-based solutions such as Dropbox. The experience of our client has shown that providing staff with flexible but controlled access to key documents through an enterprise class, cloud-based, document management tool, with the right levels of security, not only helps ensure compliance but also helps to improve productivity, convenience and collaboration.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:41:36 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3639
A Beginner&#39;s Guide to the Cloud Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2012/dec/a-beginners-guide-to-the-cloud/
We&#39;ve all heard of the cloud, and lots of us are using cloud services to manage our personal IT (Hotmail, DropBox, Apple iCloud )… Increasingly however, clients, colleagues and contacts want to talk about what cloud computing can mean for their business. There&#39;s a lot of confusion about what the term &#39;the cloud&#39; actually means, and so in this short article I&#39;ll try to debunk some of the misconceptions around cloud computing as well as illustrating the major benefits of using cloud computing for business. I have seen many definitions of the cloud, ranging from the preposterously technical, to the beautifully simple (and my preferred choice of) definition - that &#39;it is just another way of saying the internet&#39;. To elaborate, cloud services are &#39;technology services (software, hosting, platform and others) which are delivered over the internet, usually paid for on a pay-as-you-go, or &#39;utility&#39; basis.&#39; One misconception about the cloud is that cloud computing has something to do with the atmosphere; in fact the name &#39;cloud&#39; comes from the diagram System Architects use to depict the internet when they map out a system, which looks like…a cloud! Hand in hand with this, is the idea that using cloud technologies means your computing is somehow &#39;out there&#39;, bouncing around in the sky; this isn&#39;t the case. Cloud computing still uses hard drives and processors, but these are no longer on a personal computer, or in your building. In fact they could be anywhere in the world and you might not necessarily know where. There are 3 main types of cloud - private, public and hybrid, upon which the different types of cloud services run. Public clouds are available, as the name suggests, to the public, and are delivered via the internet to customers who are billed as though for any other utility, although many public cloud services are free. E.g. Apple&#39;s iCloud Private clouds also sometimes known as corporate clouds, are essentially the same technology as public clouds, but used only by permission of the owners. Private clouds appeal to organsiations that need more control and where data privacy and security are of paramount importance. PDMS&#39; own software as a service solutions are usually provided on a private rather than a public cloud basis. Hybrid clouds use aspects of both public and private clouds; some services may be provided via the public cloud whilst others are hosted internally or on a private cloud allowing for greater control and security. This shift from having business systems (and associated data) located physically within a company&#39;s premises, to moving them outside via cloud technology raises obvious concerns for managers; Security With Software as a Service (SaaS), for example, all of your data is stored on infrastructure within your service provider&#39;s data centre. In some instances, the SaaS vendor will outsource the hosting to a specialist data centre. It is of paramount importance that data confidentiality, integrity and availability is maintained where the data is hosted or accessed. As with all new suppliers, it&#39;s essential that proper due diligence is done. There are clear industry-wide standards governing cloud services, so start by checking that suppliers comply with these. Regulatory issues It is definitely worth asking a potential cloud supplier where your data will be hosted. If the supplier has servers in another country, your data could fall under the jurisdiction of your home country as well as any other countries your supplier has servers in. Are you comfortable hosting your company&#39;s data in the US? India? The Netherlands? It might be worth familiarising yourself with the legal obligations companies which host in different countries are under. Start off by researching the US Safe Harbor directive&#39;s as well as those of the EU and the UK specifically. (The Isle of Man has its own data protection legislation). Service Level Along with considering jurisdiction, have a think about other factors which might impact a supplier&#39;s service level. What is the country&#39;s culture like? What is their infrastructure like? Is it a politically stable region?Are they vulnerable to natural disasters, (Hurricane Sandy knocked out data centres down the eastern seaboard). Accreditation Companies that invest in accreditations have lower corporate risks than unaccredited companies. Security and environmental accreditations demonstrate company integrity, longevity and professionalism, as well as the ability to identify weaknesses and self-improve in order to pass the accreditation audit. They give customers greater confidence; and if your business is accredited, why jeopardise that by choosing unaccredited suppliers? Payment Model Cloud computing is changing the commercial model for IT services with a move from up front capital investment to an operational expense item. You pay for services e.g. software on a subscription basis which could be monthly, annually, per user etc. With cloud computing, you only pay for what you use. And because it&#39;s flexible you can scale up (or down) in terms of capacity or the number of users within hours, meaning there&#39;s no wasted spend. If you are interested in moving to the cloud, where do you start? There are certainly degrees of cloud adoption and even the big players, started off small when moving over to cloud services. Begin by identifying a project to test the water with as your first foray into cloud services. Remember, it&#39;s important to find suppliers you can trust as you will be depending on them for back-up and long term support. There is plenty of information around, but if you&#39;d like to talk to somebody in person, we&#39;d be happy to share some of our experiences of the benefits and potential pitfalls of the cloud.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:38:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3636
Twenty Years L8R Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jan/twenty-years-l8r/
Looking back, quite a lot has happened since 1993, the year Johanna was born, the year we formed PDMS Ltd, and coincidentally the year the first popular web browser Mosaic was released. They are all in their twentieth year now and quite grown up! For my daughter&#39;s generation the internet is all pervasive with some interesting consequences. For one thing it seems to be much harder to actually miss lectures! Instead of the luxury of knowing that that particularly tedious session on comparative sedimentology / the physics of the Tibetan nose flute / ontological post Marxist art criticism … is lost forever, they are all recorded in glorious HD, 3D surround sound and made available on line. How unfair is that? Similarly Skype must be something of a mixed blessing. Gone are the days when the only way to call home was a dodgy payphone at the end of the hall. That was great, essentially you were un-contactable and the twice termly call home to request additional money for books and lab coats (or something like that) could be kept conveniently short. Now virtually everything you got for Xmas has a Wifi connection and a video camera and can connect you to your parents for free. As soon as you crawl out of bed and log into facebook they know and can call you up and see into your room… what a nightmare! Most teenagers are truly horrified by the thought of the life we lead at their age, where the only phones were either tied to your parent&#39;s house or in a box next to the pub with a queue of your Gran&#39;s friends outside. No Facebook, no instant messaging, no way to keep in touch real time with everyone you have ever met! But I sometimes think we were the ones who had the greatest luxury - no evidence! Seriously though, in these last twenty years the internet and wireless communications have totally transformed the way we can communicate and keep in touch with anyone anywhere and for today&#39;s young people a hyper connected, multithreaded, always on existence is the norm. For myself, by contrast, I have to admit that it doesn&#39;t really come naturally, it&#39;s not that I don&#39;t get the appeal of things like Facebook (I have an account) but rather than live in it, I treat it more like some companies treat their web sites. As something to update once in a blue moon - because you ought to. The problem is banter, I love it, but online the kids just seem to run rings round me. For some reason the part of my brain which responds to things in writing is just not up to the job of witty repartee at a socially acceptable pace. Or in the words of my son &#39;ah bless dad has stopped walking so that he can reply to a text&#39;. But it&#39;s not just my kids that have grown up along with the internet. PDMS has been right in there since the mid 90&#39;s. I sometimes say that our greatest failure in business was not getting seriously rich in the dot com boom and our greatest success, not going bust after it. A more interesting observation might be that pretty much everything that the dot com boom was predicated on has in fact happened and much more. The digitalisation of books, music and increasingly video is now so all pervasive that I was tempted to write an article entitled &#39;the Kindle who stole Christmas&#39; based on the fact that pretty much everything I want to consume by way of media is easiest to access from my tablet computer. Ipad Mini, Kindle Fire, Google Nexus etc. They were flying off the shelves this Christmas and will make life even harder on the high street as more and more can be ordered and consumed on line. This may seem a bit of a gloomy view (at least if you are a retailer) but there are two sides to everything, and whilst it is a shame that chains like Jessops are on the way out, the truth is that they are simply suffering the same fate as they inflicted on many independent camera shops a generation ago. And, as a consumer, it is hard to justify paying over the odds for a commodity item. On the other hand local businesses which really add value through greater product knowledge or value added services may actually benefit from the pressure on line is putting on the retail chains. We had an interesting example of this recently when trying to find furniture to exactly fit our conservatory. We tried everywhere and were on the point of ordering something only vaguely suitable on line when the local upholsterer in Port St Mary came to the rescue. We got a perfect piece of furniture made to measure and modified where we got it wrong for about the same price. Looking ahead I firmly believe that we are moving into a new phase in the evolution of IT in business, new opportunities and new threats will arise right across industry. As with the dot com boom the timing is hard to predict but the direction of travel is not. The overriding theme is the commoditisation of computer and telecoms infrastructure. This is sometimes referred to as cloud computing or computing as a utility but boil it down and it simply means that far fewer organisations will bother to own or support their own servers or networks. Access to business systems will be based primarily on authentication of the individual rather than their location or device and the role of enterprise systems will be to support all stakeholders and communications channels with the same information and processes. But remember that innovation and differentiation don&#39;t come off the shelf. The real winners will be those who take the opportunity to reengineer their business from the ground up to exploit the hyper connected world and the mind set of my daughter&#39;s generation.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:33:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3633
100 Days and 100 Nights Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/feb/100-days-and-100-nights/
You&#39;ve done the penetration test, the accessibility test, the usability test, the stress test and the test of the tests themselves. By now you&#39;ll have invested a significant amount of money and definitely a substantial amount of your own precious time. And now your website or online business system has &#39;gone live&#39;. You are now the proud owner of a site/application that is available to the world. And, as is totally understandable in todays&#39; world of the internet, your site/application will be available to your customers all the time, 24/7/365. There will be no downtime - fact! A week passes. And then a number of unrelated events all occur in the space of a couple of days: You notice a part of the site/application that you want to improve and you want it changed, Your business diversifies and you need to rework a whole section of the application to provide changed features, The company that provides the platform that you&#39;ve built the site/application upon, release a new version of the platform, The operating system underlying your site needs a security patch installing, The company that you are hosting with needs to replace a piece of networking kit. Contacting your various suppliers, you are told that resolving each of these items will involve &quot;some&quot; downtime. Before you know it, your site/application is offline for &quot;some&quot; amounts of time. Your customers are getting the dreaded 404 site not found message, and are rapidly losing confidence in your company. How could this possibly be happening? Well, if we&#39;re honest with ourselves, and take a closer look at what is actually involved in maintaining the &#39;uptime&#39; of a site/application, we quickly see that for all but the simplest of brochure-ware websites, it&#39;s a very complicated business indeed. The list of commodities and infrastructures that need to be in place to even serve a single page to the internet is a long one. From hosting space and cooling at the very physical end, through power and internet connectivity, and then on to the servers and networks themselves. Then there&#39;s the operating system and the platform, and we&#39;ve still not got to the code of your site yet. It&#39;s a small miracle that your website can be presented to the internet at all. With so many interactions and points of failure in each of the various subsystems, outages are common place in a lot of computing systems, and hosting a website/application on the internet is no different. In order to avoid your customers noticing failures of these subsystems you will have had to have designed and implemented a highly redundant &quot;super system&quot; that copes with the failure of any of its individual components. As you might expect, this isn&#39;t an easy undertaking and by its nature, isn&#39;t particularly cheap. This week, at PDMS, we are going to celebrate a 100% uptime value for a large site which serves nearly 12 million pages a month. We report this value over a rolling 3 month period, so we haven&#39;t missed a beat for around 100 days now. It&#39;s not 99.9% or even 99.99%, it&#39;s 100% uptime. And I&#39;m really proud of that fact. Achieving this, has taken a lot of engineering at all levels. We&#39;ve had to implement a very resilient and redundant network infrastructure, a large number of devices from firewalls and switches to routers and load-balancers. At the server and operating system level we&#39;ve employed virtualisation technologies that react to changes in the underlying infrastructure. At the database level we&#39;ve adopted high availability strategies to ensure data consistency and availability. And, at the application level, the code has been specifically written to allow for a distributed network. Having been asked by the boss&#39;s boss at the end of last week, I&#39;ve spent some time over the past few days, trying to think of the one thing that has made this possible - and I think that it can be summed up as follows - at PDMS, I&#39;m fortunate enough to work with a very talented, diverse set of engineers, who are all under one roof. Being able to provide all of the skills necessary to design, build, implement and support a system of this scale, all from within one company, gives us the ability to break down the difficult communication issues involved with multiple suppliers. Everything needed to provide a 100% uptime is managed by people that I can physically go over and talk to. At some point, we&#39;re going to &#39;miss a beat&#39;, our unbroken run of uptime will be resigned to history and we&#39;ll have to start the counters again, and try to break the record that we&#39;re setting right now. For the superstitious I guess that writing this article has cursed the whole thing, we&#39;ll have to wait and see!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:27:44 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3631
Technology in Education - How to use it vs How to develop it Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/mar/technology-in-education-how-to-use-it-vs-how-to-develop-it/
BETT is a global community where individuals discover technology for education and lifelong learning. The exhibition embraces innovative solutions that inspire, in order to shape and improve the way people learn from classroom to boardroom. In times where modern learning environments are becoming more mobile and &#39;learning anywhere&#39; is more of a possibility, the BETT exhibition gave visitors the opportunity to explore how technology can power learning, raise attainment and increase efficiency. I was particularly impressed with the exhibition and what it had to offer. I have been out of school for almost 8 years and the first thing that struck me was the advancements in the technologies being promoted to educational establishments. My earliest memory of using a computer was during weekly &#39;extra-curricular&#39; computer lessons which consisted of learning how to do &#39;things&#39; in MS DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). On reflection, I have no idea what I was being taught, and the only tangible benefit I gained, was the confidence to use a computer. I have never actually made use of any MS DOS Skills I acquired. I started secondary school at about the same time as dial up internet connections were becoming commonplace. At home I used AOL to talk to friends and I.T Lessons then consisted of learning how to use Microsoft Word whilst not being caught &#39;hotmailing&#39; your friend on the other side of the classroom. Looking back, I never had any knowledge or indeed interest in how computers, software and the internet actually worked. I was never offered the opportunity to learn about computer programming and consequently didn&#39;t give it much thought. By contrast &#39;some&#39; years earlier, PDMS&#39; Technical Director, Mike Bromwich fondly remembers his introduction to computers with the commodore Pet - followed by a GCE &#39;O&#39; Level in Computer Studies. The syllabus he was taught included programming simple computers using switches and lights, writing programs (by hand) onto squared paper, and studying algorithms and circuit diagrams. As technology and the internet have become more ubiquitous, there has been a change in emphasis in the teaching curriculum, from learning about the &quot;nuts and bolts&quot; of computers and programming, to simply learning how to use software packages. Last year, Education secretary Michael Gove&#39;s BETT 2012 speech, in which he criticised the teaching of ICT, put the spotlight back on to how ICT is taught in schools. He said &#39;schools, teachers and industry leaders have all told us that the current curriculum is too off-putting, too demotivating, too dull.&#39; Bill Mitchell, director of learned society at the British Computer society (BCS), was quick to respond. &#39;If the UK expects to remain an advanced economy, it has to out-educate every other country on earth. If you look at India and China, they are producing hundreds and thousands of graduates. That means that we have to have a better education system starting from primary school onwards. Computing is now essential to all science and engineering&#39;. Through my involvement with The Manx ICT Association (MICTA), I have come to understand that, as an island community, we are facing the same ICT skills gap as the UK. The opportunities for skilled programmers and developers are abundant both in terms of career choices and salary potential. However the pool of talent does not appear to be growing at the same speed. Specific skills are often required for students when they leave full time education and become part of the workforce. Steve Beswick, director of education at Microsoft UK believes that the creativity aspect is important: &quot;We still believe that things like Excel need to be taught, as many jobs still need this skill and it should not be forgotten.&quot; However, how does teaching a student to use excel to do certain calculations compare to giving them the empowerment to think outside the box and understand how the programme works? In today&#39;s economy, technology is a fundamental part of any business. We need to equip young people with the skills to be able to create the new innovative software and technology solutions that will help drive economic growth. Here at PDMS, the people in our team who develop software and maintain our technical networks, are the people whose interest in IT went far beyond what the limited high school curriculum covered in information technology. Often their interest and enthusiasm meant that they spent a considerable amount of time out of the class room finding out more, experimenting and ultimately teaching themselves. If we are going to stand any chance of filling the IT skills gap and of developing a new generation of technology pioneers, we need to stimulate, nurture and support this enthusiasm in the classroom.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:19:38 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3623
No place like home Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/apr/no-place-like-home/
In an internal memo sent to staff in February, the head of Human Resources wrote: &quot;We need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.&quot; The memo was soon leaked to the outside world and was quickly picked up by the press and the online community, unleashing a storm of controversy and re-opening the debate on working from home. My first impression was that this inflexible stance seemed to be, not only draconian but, bizarrely out of touch. Over the past decade advancements in technology in our switched on society have led to a significant growth in remote working and a general acceptance, by HR departments across the globe, that flexibility is a good thing - for the both the employer and the employee. I felt a sense of outrage for those employers who had taken on a job on the assumption that they could work from home and who were now being told, in no uncertain terms, to get back into the office by June or join the unemployment queue. How was this going to impact on staff motivation and loyalty within Yahoo? Meyer came to Yahoo from Google and Google, of course, is well known for its fantastically well-equipped offices and informal work spaces where staff meet up in the games room and come up with great new innovations whilst eating free snacks. Yes, I completely understand the value of people talking and debating face to face, of those random conversations by the coffee machine that can provide new insights, particularly in larger organisations, but you don&#39;t have to tether someone to their desk 5 days a week for this to occur. And doesn&#39;t the need to be in the office depend on your role and the contribution you are expected to make? Not everybody is an innovator and needs to bounce ideas around. On the day that the story first came to my attention, I had been discussing home working with one of my PDMS colleagues who is based in the UK. Commuting to work on the Isle of Man is a bit of a non-issue, if you drive to work, at the most it&#39;s never going to take you more than an hour (recent snow blizzards excepted!). However, he explained that prior to working from home he had been spending over 4 hours a day commuting to the office on expensive, overcrowded and unreliable trains. He had to leave the office bang on 5pm in order to get home for 7-30 and this meant often having to stop abruptly in the middle of a task. He&#39;s now based from home which means he sees much more of his family, previously he had to leave the house before anybody else was up for breakfast. Additionally, he&#39;s also much more productive - he can work on a task until it&#39;s finished and can put more hours in as he hasn&#39;t got any travelling time. Surely, I thought, a high flier such as Meyer couldn&#39;t ignore these upsides to working from home? Some people are more productive when they work at home without the distractions of office chitter-chatter and constant interruptions. There&#39;s no constrained 9-5 and they will put in additional effort and work on a task until it is completed. And then there&#39;s the cost savings and environmental benefits to be gained from home working - providing desk space, telephones etc. creates additional overheads, and commuting to and from an office everyday has a negative impact on the environment. There seemed to be no middle ground - in Meyer&#39;s &quot;my way or the highway&quot; stance - an out of touch dictate from above with no flexibility. Or was it? Before I castigated Meyer as the Wicked Witch of the West, I decided to delve a bit deeper.lady on sofa In response to the backlash Yahoo&#39;s new policy had created, with criticism from many corners ranging from Mumsnet through to Richard Branson, Yahoo issued a statement saying, &quot;This isn&#39;t a broad industry view on working from home. This is about what is right for Yahoo, right now&quot;. Apparently memos have also been distributed to say that it&#39;s fine to work from home to accommodate the odd visit from a repair man etc. Rumour has it that Meyer, well known for making decisions based on hard metrics and data, viewed the companies VPN logs to see if remote employees were checking in enough and discovered that they weren&#39;t. If this is true, some have argued that the connectivity to the VPN isn&#39;t a great way to judge productivity as some people don&#39;t need to be constantly connected to do their job e.g. sales people, engineers who need to dial directly into customer systems. If some home workers aren&#39;t productive, this a supervision and accountability problem and will forcing those poor performing individuals back into the office make them any more productive? Some more cynical commentators have cited Yahoos&#39; need to cut costs and believe that the home working ban is simply a ploy to cut headcount and salary overheads. I&#39;m not sure I buy into that particular conspiracy theory. Meyer certainly has a challenge ahead of her at Yahoo to turn the company around. The company has failed to exploit new money spinning trends e.g. social networking and mobile and it sits in the shadows of the leading lights such as Google in the &quot;cool&quot; stakes. The ban on home working may have been an attempt to deal with an allegedly de-motivated work force; bringing all hands on deck to help revitalise the organisation. Whether the true motivation behind the ban was positive, to help people work together as a team, or was indeed an attempt to deal with productivity issues; it seems to me that issuing this blanket mandate won&#39;t really get to the nub of the issues that need addressing. Flexibility cuts both ways and generates goodwill, motivation and loyalty amongst employees - who are, without doubt, any organisation&#39;s best brand ambassadors.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:32:55 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3621
PDMS by Numbers Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jun/pdms-by-numbers/
PDMS Limited was determined to help its customers get the best out of their computers, data and networks, and to do so by applying the best standards of software engineering to create systems, which both do the job, and stay the distance. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are still firmly based in the Isle of Man and are serving customers all over the world. In some respects our industry has transformed the world and yet the challenges of building well engineered and sustainable business systems are still exactly the same. We are very proud of what we have achieved and very grateful to all of the people who have worked with us over the years as members of our team or as customers, suppliers or collaborators. One of the founding principles of PDMS was to help our partners make better use of their information assets - or, in plain English, be better informed about their own activities. With this in mind I have taken a look at some of our own activities over the years with a view to painting a picture of PDMS by numbers… We have amassed a collective experience base of over 600 man/woman developer years in all aspects of software engineering.Over 43,000 customer support cases have been raised and resolved in the last ten years - 6000 of them by a single individual - you know who you are… Ten years ago we employed 30 people of whom more than 50% are still with us today. 80% of companies registered in 1993 will have ceased trading but two thirds of companies who made it to ten years are still around. We help provide over 200,000 police officers with access to up to date legal information ATC. In twenty years we have employed 173 people of 21 different nationalities for a total of about 700 man years. We have provided our staff with more than half a million cups of tea and coffee and used 15,000 litres of Manx milk in the process. Our application framework which lies at the heart of almost all of our developments contains 50,000 lines of computer code each one of which has been written an average of three times and tested at least 50 times! We have donated &#163;250,000 to local causes and provided &#163;250,000 in services in kind. In 1993 1% of telecommunications traffic was internet related - today it is 97%. The manx.im web domain predates.com (just). Our projects have been shortlisted for 16 national industry awards in the UK and have been highly commended 3 times and won 5 times - most recently Manx Gas&#39;s fantastic Customer service award! We have implemented systems in over 12 different languages. In a typical week PDMS consumes 1200 Jelly Beans, 30 Pieces of Flapjack, 60 Lollipop cakes (or near equivalents) and this excludes bouts of competitive or charitable cake baking… Our staff have walked, run, cycled or swum for over 2000 miles in local sporting events. There are more people visiting the gov.im web site every month than the total population of internet users in 1993. We have written over 150 Money Media articles. We&#39;ve helped record over 1.5 million items of seized, stolen or lost property in the West Midlands area. The Southern Nomads have won 9 trophies since we started sponsoring the team in 2006. 172,000 mobile phone billing events processed through our software every single day. This is generated by an average of 12,000 individual devices connected for a grand total of 28,000 hours every day. So with this wealth of (utterly reliable) statistical information what can we say about the future for PDMS and for the technology sector in general? Well, whilst past performance can never guarantee the future, I think our ongoing commitment to sugary snacks, caffeinated beverages, and really well engineered software is assured…Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:29:24 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3617
Where has the atmosphere gone? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jul/where-has-the-atmosphere-gone/
As one might expect, China and India are very big players here, in terms of measured Internet users. Not surprisingly, China are well out there at number 1 with India at number 2. However, while China may already be number 1, it already has an estimated 42% Internet penetration (still plenty of potential for growth…) however, India has achieved 2nd place but with only 11% population penetration. Other emerging countries like Indonesia, Iran, Columbia and Turkey all figure in the top 15 countries for Internet users. As you might expect, mobile usage is also expanding very rapidly and is forecast to continue to do so, while the mobile advertising opportunity remains largely untapped with only $4B spent on mobile advertising as compared to the $37B spent on Internet advertising. So plenty of growing business potential here too. While these stats show activity in the emerging markets, Bruce (namesake Springsteen) would be very happy when you look at where the big Internet businesses are currently actually &#39;made&#39;, with 80% of the top 10 Global online firms being &#39;Born in the USA…&#39; - even though over 80% of Internet users actually exist outside of the USA itself. There may be considerable International opportunity here as emerging international markets require more than perhaps the &#39;American perspective&#39;. The world&#39;s content is also increasingly accessible and it&#39;s shared and &#39;tagged&#39; far more with a 9 fold increase in the last 5 years. The online landscape, which has become more social and content rich, with expanded use of photos, video (0 to now 100 hrs. uploaded per minute in the last 6 years) and audio. Much of this is driven by social media related activities. In terms of &#39;sharing&#39; of this data, mobiles are of course having a big impact. Mobile traffic as a % of global Internet traffic is growing fast, currently at 15% of total Internet traffic and likely to accelerate. This 15% figure seems low as, for example, in China mobile Internet access is now, as of end of 2012, outstripping traditional PC access. Mobile usage (apart from calls of course) started with txt&#39;s, and then photo&#39;s (Facebook but now also Snapchat and Instagram growing fast), video is now well into the &#39;ramping up&#39; stage and it&#39;s believed that sound and data are the next emerging &#39;share&#39; trends. The fact that mobiles are, by nature, &#39;mobile&#39; means that there is also now an even far greater opportunity to share, and with real immediacy too, what is going on &#39;anytime anyplace anywhere&#39;, but I question if there is always value in this. Tablets, as another mobile device relatively new to the scene, now growing in use faster than mobiles, are also significantly driving these and similar trends too. However, my namesake, Bruce (aka The Boss) may not be a fan of some effects of these socially driven recent trends. Long ago people danced at concerts now they Txt; Video; Share; Tweet etc. This &#39;social media&#39; encroachment into everything we do, is one of the real and very strong trends both facilitated by, and indeed now driving many of, the newest Internet trends themselves. But, where, in real human interaction terms, is this all going? As an observation also related to this, my wife recently bought me some tickets to a great live comedy event, &#39;The Pub Landlord&#39; and while I thoroughly enjoyed the whole atmosphere of it, I couldn&#39;t help but notice the girl in front of me, probably mid to late 20&#39;s, who spent well over 70% of her time head down on her mobile device… obviously &#39;social networking...&#39; I couldn&#39;t help feeling that she was missing out on the &#39;real atmosphere&#39; of the event. This also got me to thinking of a recent conversation I had with my 10 year old son, Finn, regarding a very real-world recent event he was involved in. Like most kids his age he loves all things Internet, App based, game based and iPod (mobile) based and he&#39;s just also moving into the whole social media &#39;Pandora&#39;s Box&#39; too. However, the real world event I refer to required none of these devices or social media skills. As one of the members of his local Scout group, Finn was lucky enough to be selected to help at the recent Isle of Man TT races as one of the operators of the old &#39;manual&#39; scoreboard at the TT Grandstand. I asked him, after his day at the races, whether he had enjoyed it. &quot;Wow, it was amazing&quot; he said, &quot;I loved it!&quot; What did you really like about it? I asked. &quot;Well, it was kind of everything… running up and down working the scoreboard; the loud noise of the bikes, the fantastic speed as they zoomed past so close; the smell of the racing; being with my mates, being a real part of it, and well just the overall &#39;atmosphere&#39;, I guess…&quot; he said with real bubbling enthusiasm. This got me to thinking about the general and modern parental challenges of these Internet trends, mobile devices and the whole social media sharing phenomenon and how they may affect such real experiences. Sharing everything we do, it&#39;s an interesting and sometimes challenging concept, particularly challenging to someone of my age demographic, a late 40&#39;s father of 3, (let alone my fathers!), but when looking at some of the stats in which countries do people tend to &#39;share&#39; things the most I was surprised to find that the USA at 15% and GB at 11% are way below the average of 24% whereas countries like India, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are well above 50% &#39;sharers&#39;. Clearly there is either a cultural difference here or is it more to do with how these emerging markets by nature readily engage with this sharing trend in general. But will all these Internet trends and devices, current and new, and all the new ways we can &#39;socially interact&#39; really be all that &#39;truly social&#39; in the end? Thinking back to both the girl that wasn&#39;t paying attention to a live act just in front of her and my 10 year old son&#39;s comments about &quot;what made a recent &#39;real-life&#39; event great?&quot; - I hope that in the future we don&#39;t get to such a point that we are posing the serious question &quot;where has all the real atmosphere gone…&quot;?Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:09:14 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3615
Design icons: the computer mouse Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jul/design-icons-the-computer-mouse/
Design manager at PDMS Jim Rawson recalls the evolution of an iconic product and the legacy of a design visionary... I first considered the design of computer input devices first around 1994 while I was at university. They&#39;d been around for quite a while before that, but it was around this time it became clear that we were moving towards a digital-oriented world. A student housemate of mine with an unhealthy appetite for Apple Macs was experimenting with the burgeoning potential of 3D graphics and presented, for an assignment, a series of virtual rooms you could walk through. One of the tutors assessing the project was an OAP (Old Age Painter) who amazingly knew even less about computers than me, and had a predilection for eating cheese sandwiches alone in his shack in the woods. That, combined with the fact that we were subsisting in the dark days of pre-dotcom, made it only slightly surprising when our tutor attempted to use the mouse six inches above the desk, and had to be instructed to put it back on the mousemat. As someone who now works on the &#39;fluffy end&#39; of technology,I&#39;ve always found the way we interact with computers quite interesting. Most of the gadgets we have today would not have been possible without the existence of the computer mouse -an ingenious contraption born from the mindofa creative scientist in the 1950s. Douglas Engelbart was a modest man but a visionary who created the &#39;foundations of modern computing&#39;. As early as 1968 he demonstrated a very basic version ofa&#39;windows&#39; style interface, complete with video conferencing, hyperlinks, networked systems, and - most importantly - a way for a user to control it all with one hand, on a screen. &quot;I don&#39;t know why we called it a mouse, I apologise, it just started off like that and then it stayed that way,&quot; he said during his now legendary public demonstration to a gathering of top academics and industry leaders, which became known as the &#39;Mother of all Demos&#39; (available on YouTube). He was so ahead of his time that the 17-year patent on his &#39;mouse&#39; expired before anyone had realised its commercial value. Since 1984 more than a billion mice have been manufactured and sold worldwide, yet Engelbart didn&#39;t make a cent from it directly. He was not short of public recognition however, and received a number of awards and prizes throughout his career including the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize. One of the first adopters of Engelbart&#39;s invention was Apple, who in the 1980s were so inspired after seeing his invention at Xerox&#39;s SRI research facility that their design team scrapped their initial plans and redesigned their product around a mouse-operated interface. Apple reportedly paid Stamford Research Institute a $40,000 license fee to use the technology. It wasn&#39;t long before other Cal-tech firms picked up on the advantages a mouse could offer and by the 2000s it was thede factomeans to control a computer, shipping with both Apple and Windows hardware. However, in recent times there have been suggestions that mice may face an uncertain future. Advances in human-computer interaction (HCI) have enabled the use of &#39;touch&#39; interfaces, motion-sensing accelerometers and the ability to use advanced &#39;swipe&#39; gestures to make sense of physical gestures in a digital world. Incidentally, my aging painting tutor who waved his mouse in the air during the assignment was not misinformed - just ahead of his time - today there are controllers that provide reliable accuracy in 3 dimensions by using gyroscopic sensors. Korean technology giant Samsung is even working on mind control technology that allows users to successfully (albeit slowly) choose, start and stop music tracks using thought impulses via an EEG headset. Does this mean our mouse population is headed for extinction, along with Betamax, laser discs and mixtapes? It&#39;s certainly possible - but a more likely reality is one where different devices and interfaces are perfected and adapted for carrying out specific tasks. While the mouse has limitations, it still has value where accurate manual input is needed. New technologies allow for hybrid possibilities and - thanks to Douglas Engelbart - the potential applications of well-designed context-sensitive technology across industries from Super-Mario to medicine are infinite. Design Evolution of the mouse 1967: Engelbart&#39;s design application for a patent graphic user interface which would become the &#39;foundation for modern computing&#39;. 1968: the prototype &#39;mouse&#39; had a wooden casing, simple &#39;x and y&#39; wheels and was hand-made by engineer Bill English. It would be 20 years before IT companies understood its significance. 1986: Apple&#39;s Macintosh Plus mouse. The problem their design team faced was how to mass-produce a device that cost $400 for less than $25. Steve Jobs insisted that with a single mouse button it would be &#39;impossible to push the wrong button&#39;. If only all gadgets were so foolproof! 1998: Apple&#39;s &#39;puck&#39; mouse in Bondi blue. The first USB mouse was widely considered &#39;one of Apple&#39;s worst mistakes&#39; as the round shape made it difficult for users to work out the position of their hand in relation to the screen. The design was so unusable that a startup produced the &#39;iCatch&#39;, a clip-on plastic shell that converted the shape to an oval. 2013: Does the &#39;mighty&#39; mouse face potential extinction with the development of &#39;touch&#39; interfaces, motion sensors and even mind-control technology?Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:59:36 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3614
How important is Usability? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/jul/how-important-is-usability/
This has been acknowledged by the UK Government, leading to the creation of a project called &#39;Race Online 2012&#39; designed to encourage small businesses to do more online. However, digital participation alone is not enough; to be competitive in today&#39;s market the quality of the website matters more than ever. A well-designed website increases awareness of the company and in the case of e-commerce can lead directly to increased sales, thus much research has gone into finding out which features of a website have the biggest positive effect on customer behaviour. One of the criteria for any successfully designed product is &#39;usability&#39;. There is some debate about what the term usability actually means, however the International Organisation for Standardization defines it as &#39;the extent to which a system can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use&#39;. This is a very overcomplicated way of saying that usability is determined by how quick and easy it is for a user to carry out the task for which the website was made. The fact that multiple definitions of usability exist is problematic as each definition has its own set of usability criteria. Jacob Nielsen (an expert in the field of website user experience) suggests that usability is dependent on: the ease with which a user can learn to manage the system, the ease of memorizing the basic functions, the efficiency of the website design, the degree of error avoidance and the general satisfaction of the user in terms of manageability. Other researchers have highlighted the importance of download delay, interactivity and responsiveness. Despite debate about how best to define usability, most researchers agree that learnability, easy navigation, low delay, and useful content are all vital usability criteria. Even though there is no universal usability standard, some researchers have created tools for evaluating usability based on the criteria suggested by the literature. One example is WEBUSE, an evaluation questionnaire designed to test 20 usability criteria which can be classified into 4 categories: content and readability, navigation and links, user interface design, performance and effectiveness. The reliability (e.g. how much two users&#39; WEBUSE scores differed when evaluating the same website) of WEBUSE was found to be high. In addition to this qualitative data regarding participant satisfaction with WEBUSE, for example how much participants felt that the questions were relevant, was collected and found to be positive overall. Therefore the researchers concluded that WEBUSE was a good tool for accurately assessing website usability. The development of such usability tests, which only take half an hour to complete and can be sent out as an online survey, is good news for businesses seeking to improve their online services. However such tests are only really useful for measuring the current usability of a website, therefore they may not provide enough information for companies planning to remodel their website. A more professional and in-depth alternative to this kind of usability testing is offered by User Experience consultancies, who perform both user testing and evaluation in purpose-built labs. Some User Experience companies also provide website usability courses, at which delegates learn how to apply user experience tools and techniques to real-world design and development problems. However, outsourcing consultation and training to such companies can be expensive, making them a less viable option for small businesses. Fortunately easy to read usability guidelines provided by the UK Government are available free online, giving companies of all sizes plenty of ways in which they can improve on the usability of their website. But is obtaining a high level of usability really worth the effort? The simple answer is yes. A high level of usability has consistently been found to have many benefits. Research has shown that online stores with above average usability have much greater revisit rates, increasing the likelihood of future online purchases even if none were made on the initial visit. There are also benefits for companies not directly selling goods online; one study of e-banking services found that high usability increased customer satisfaction, leading to higher customer loyalty and increased recommendations of the company to friends. User experience companies provide case studies of companies which have benefited from the in-depth usability analysis services they provide. Office supplies retailer Staples reportedan increase in traffic of 17 per cent following a redesign of their website, based on the results of extensive usability testing. Similarly Thomson experienced an 80 per cent increase in hotel &#39;look-to-book&#39; conversions after improving their website&#39;s usability. The evidence suggests that an enhanced level of website usability increases customer spending, customer loyalty and leads to long-term positive perceptions of a company. As these are common goals of online businesses, improving usability ought to be a top priority for managers with a remit to develop and maintain corporate websites. However despite the fact that numerous usability guidelines, consultancies and testing services exist, many companies still have websites that score poorly on &#39;user friendliness&#39;. An analysis of the usability of 500 company websites found that only 23% had site search capabilities, and 14% had a Frequently Asked Questions or Help option. Such statistics suggest that ways to increase usability outlined by research have not been implemented by the majority of businesses, putting those who do use such recommendations at a distinct advantage in the competitive online market.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:56:13 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3603
Are you addicted to Technology? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/oct/are-you-addicted-to-technology/
For a number of years I&#39;d been in a position where my job required me to have a Blackberry and it was only when I handed it back, that I realised how dependent or even possibly addicted I&#39;d become to this particular piece of technology. After my first week at work without a Blackberry I&#39;d noticeably started to struggle organising my working day. I no longer had something that beeped or vibrated reminding me of an upcoming meeting, to deal with a task or to let me know when an email had arrived. It was even worse when I was away from my desk and was without email, this genuinely worried me as I no longer felt in control of my projects. As the second week progressed the lack of a Blackberry and its associated purpose really got to me, so much so I&#39;d started printing out my calendar for the day and keeping a copy in my pocket so that I didn&#39;t forget to attend to anything. This was OK until my calendar started to change with such frequency, that it felt as though I&#39;d become responsible for the mass destruction of a rain forest! It was at this point that I told myself to get a grip. I come from a time where the introduction of the fax machine was considered wizardry, and before the invention of the Filofax let alone Outlook Calendar, yet I&#39;d somehow previously managed my time quite adequately, so this really was something that should have been second nature to me. Over the next few weeks I eventually got back to my old routines and started using my own memory rather than that of my phone to remind me when I had to do something and, believe it or not, it worked! Having got used to the fact that I no longer had a Blackberry to organise my life, I reflected on how I used to work and came to the conclusion that I had actually become dependent upon, if not addicted to that one particular piece of technology. First thing in a morning, long before the coffee machine had warmed up and served me my first coffee of the day, I&#39;d not only checked my calendar for the day, but read and answered any emails that had come in overnight. Then, throughout the day the slightest vibration resulted in me checking the phone to attend to the incoming email, or to see what appointment was either upcoming or I was already late for. During the evening I would continue this routine and finally before I called it a day, there would be one last glance and more often than not a delay in going to bed whilst I responded to an email. Unfortunately, this activity wasn&#39;t confined to the working week. Oh no, the same would happen during the weekend, and, as my family will testify on numerous occasions and even whilst sat on a foreign beach, I not only took calls and answered emails but also investigated equipment problems via my phone. Not surprisingly these days my attitude is akin to that of an ex-smoker. In so much that &quot;having kicked the habit,&quot; I now observe the actions of others and wonder if we haven&#39;t all to a lesser or greater degree become addicted to our smart phones, phablets, tablets and other devices? I used to enjoy going to the cinema and concerts, but go less frequently these days purely and simply because I find that my enjoyment is spoilt by the incessant glow of mobile phones, people sending and receiving texts, updating Facebook, twitter and other social media sites or watching the entire concert through the screen of their device as they film it. I hadn&#39;t realised how much this affected my enjoyment until my wife and I went to a Show bar where all forms of photographic devices including mobile phones had to be left at the cloakroom, in a secure area. After the show, we remarked on how much quieter it had been and how few distractions there were, and we put this difference down to the absence of mobile technology. It would be an interesting comparison to be able to see the same show, but with the presence of photographic and mobile devices, to see if my assumption was correct. On a recent holiday, we had the pleasure of staying in an area where the mobile phone signal wasn&#39;t great or consistent, effectively leaving us without &#39;technology&#39; for a whole two weeks. The hotel only had Wi-Fi access in the hotel lobby and due to the poor local connectivity there was limited availability. One of the guests suggested that it would be quicker if you sent a messenger to pick up and hand deliver the web page, so slow was the service. Despite this, it was amazing to see that each day a large number of people huddled in the reception area to log on to various social media sites and to check their emails. In the local cafes and bars, holiday makers were lugging around 17&quot; laptops as well as smart phones, phablets and tablets, so that they could access the free Wi-Fi offered by the bars in order to use social media sites or to Skype their friends. Why is it when people are on phones or Skype in public areas they think that no one else can over hear them or see what they or their friends are doing? Don&#39;t get me wrong, I&#39;m no Luddite and I think that technology not only has its place in modern life but in certain instances provides important humanitarian benefits. But I do have to ask, have we now come to depend on mobile technology in a way that is addictive? Perhaps we should have a &quot;No Portable Technology day&quot; like we do No Smoking days, to test if this is the case or not. Could you manage a whole day without your phone? On a final note, a friend of mine once said &quot;there is use of technology and there&#39;s an appropriate use of technology.&quot; It took me a while to understand what he meant, but now I do, it is a mantra I often use, if only to remind myself of my past dependency!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:54:17 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3601
The Doctor will Skype you now Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/nov/the-doctor-will-skype-you-now/
Just as, over one hundred years ago, the telephone call replaced the telegraph message the video call was all set to do the same to the telephone call. The video call would become ubiquitous and we&#39;d all be happily sharing our &quot;bad hair days&quot; with friends, family, work colleagues and strangers. Fast forward to today and it&#39;s clear that video messaging hasn&#39;t experienced the growth and take up that was originally forecast - it&#39;s a long way from being our first choice when it comes to communicating. Even recent improvements in both video communication technology and the number of available services have failed to significantly impact on the popularity of video calls. So is video calling just another one of those &quot;cool&quot; gimmicky features that we use once or twice and then forget about, or is its day still to come? Skype, now owned by Microsoft, was at the forefront of video calling. Launched ten years ago Skype has become synonymous with video calling for many, to the extent that &quot;Skype&quot; is now widely used as a verb. It boasts over 280 million monthly active users and in March this year hit 2 billion minutes in a day. According to Skype&#39;s blog, that&#39;s enough time to travel to the moon and back over 225 thousand times, walk around Earth more than 845 times or travel to Mars more than 5,400 times. There are a number of contenders to Skype&#39;s throne, including competing services like Tango (which now boasts more than 100 million users), Google Hangouts, Blackberry&#39;s BBM, Viber and Apple&#39;s FaceTime. FaceTime uses a camera on the&#160;iPhone&#160;to connect with others on their phones, iPads or Mac computers. The application was originally available for use only when both users are connected to Wi-Fi, but, with recent changes to Apple&#39;s mobile operating system - it can be used on mobile networks. Just because video calling isn&#39;t mainstream doesn&#39;t mean that it isn&#39;t valuable. There&#39;s no doubt that video calling can bring great benefit to our family, social and business lives. It&#39;s a great way of bringing us closer to the people that we care most about, especially those that we see infrequently because the distances between us are just too great. There are lots of uplifting stories around of how video calls have helped people, who can&#39;t be together, share important events - for example, serving soldiers who can&#39;t be physically present for the birth of their children can share and feel part of the experience through live video. According to Skype,&#160;Prince Harry&#160;used Skype to speak to the Queen and the rest of his family while on duty in Afghanistan during the Christmas holidays. A recent survey also showed that 26% of parents have used video communication methods like Skype and FaceTime to read their children a bedtime story and over half of British pet owners have admitted to Skyping their pets whilst travelling! Video calls have gained momentum in the business environment, particularly as more and more people work remotely from home. Beyond our offices and homes, video communication is also being more widely used in our classrooms and hospitals. Schools are using it to aid foreign language learning and to gain a better understanding of other countries and cultures. They are setting up video exchanges with schools around the world so that students can have conversations with people who are native to the language - it&#39;s not as much fun as an exchange trip but a more cost effective alternative. Teachers are also using it to keep in touch with students who may be out of school for extended periods due to illness. This not only has educational benefits but importantly also lets them keep in touch with their class mates. Logging in and having an online video chat with a doctor is becoming ever more common in the United States and has helped reduce the number of missed appointments. In the UK too, the NHS is looking more closely at its potential as a way of speeding up diagnosis and saving money without compromising patient safety and confidentiality. Patients in rural areas or those with disabilities could use video calls to talk to their GP &#39;face-to-face&#39; without having to leave their own home. Medical professionals are also using video calls to share specialist medical expertise and provide training to colleagues in other countries. It&#39;s even been used in the operating theatre although I&#39;m not sure how much confidence that would instil in the patient! A&#160;quick Google search reveals a vast range of alternative and unusual uses for video calls. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the famed underwater explorer, Jacque Cousteau, called classrooms from his lab beneath the sea using Skype. Skype has also recently been used by the UN Security Council&#39;s investigative committee gathering information about war crimes from Syrian refugees. The team of 20 investigators have not been allowed into Syria but were able to gather evidence using video calls. Of course, there&#39;s also a darker, seedier side to video calls particularly when it comes to the exploitation of younger and more vulnerable people. This applies to many internet related activities and with video calls, the positive far outweighs the negative. So just what is stopping the video call from becoming our key mode of communication? It&#39;s not the hardware - cameras and screens in smartphones and tablets have continued to improve and bandwidth isn&#39;t as big an issue as it used to be. One obvious major drawback to video calls is data usage. The majority of video calls are made via wi-fi thus avoiding network data usage - but calls made outside a wi-fi connection can pretty quickly eat up your mobile data allowance and incur additional charges. If you are on a slow connection, or there is significant variability in connection speeds between two callers, the user experience can be frustrating with fuzzy video, choppy audio and dropped calls. Then there&#39;s the matter of confidentiality - there&#39;s some ambiguity over how much Skype information Microsoft stores and how much access different global governments could potentially have (or have had) to it, particularly in light of the US National Security Agency&#39;s PRISM programme. Minor technology and security issues aside, perhaps one of the biggest barriers to the take up of video calls is that many of us simply prefer to be heard rather than seen. Some of this may be down to purely practical reasons - you don&#39;t want your boss or your colleagues to see that you working from home in your PJ&#39;s (or even worse your onesie!). Or sheer vanity - it&#39;s much harder to avoid the close up 7 chins look on a tablet or a smartphone than on a desktop monitor. But more often than not it&#39;s because we are not always that good at listening. A video call demands a full commitment to a conversation -no multi-tasking allowed. How often are you listening to a friend or relative during a phone call whilst your attention is really elsewhere either cooking the dinner, browsing online or watching the TV? Video calling requires more effort both to set up and to participate in. Contrast the slow take up of video calls with the meteoric growth of instant messaging which is super easy to use and doesn&#39;t demand our full attention. In January this year, WhatsApp a (real time instant messaging service) announced that it is processing 18 billion messages a day for over 300 million users. Not bad for a company that only started in 2009. So what does the future hold for video messaging? A recent report by Juniper Research has forecast a four-fold increase in the number of users of mobile video calling services to nearly 160 million by 2017. This relatively modest growth will be aided by the arrival and development of 4G networks to handle the data traffic. In August this year, Skype revealed that it was working on 3D video calls and is searching for a way to create digital &#39;body doubles&#39;. Just how long will it be before your holographic avatar can attend meetings you can&#39;t make - now there&#39;s a scary thought for the colleagues of all onesie wearers!Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:47:02 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3599
How &#39;social&#39; is your business? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2013/dec/how-social-is-your-business/
That is a difficult fact to comprehend if we consider how commanding they are today. Facebook boasts over 1.1 billion users, 7 year old Twitter is now valued at approximately &#163;15 billion and YouTube receives 4 billion video views per day. These are impressive statistics, but the way in which social media has changed the way we live is even more eye-catching. The recent findings published by the National Bureau of Economic Research show that, since the social media boom began, people have doubled the amount of time they spend on the internet and substantially reduced their time socialising offline. The huge impact social media has had on society does not show any signs of levelling off. It is only just now reaching into the older demographic, with the help of new user friendly devices. Earlier this year, Twitter reported a 79% rise in users aged 55 to 64 in just one quarter. Similarly, the development of new and exciting social media channels means there will soon be a social media platform for everyone. Who knows where we will be in another ten years? However, recent research in the Harvard Business Review &#39;Analytics Services Report&#39; suggests that whilst individuals are embracing social media, businesses are lost in the mists of uncertainty surrounding this new form of communication. They researched 2100 businesses of all shapes and sizes and discovered some remarkable facts. For example, 79% said they are either using social media or are planning to, and only 1 in 10 executives thought social media was a passing fad. Yet, quite remarkably, only 12% of those businesses said they were using the medium effectively. Furthermore, 61% thought they needed to overcome a learning curve before adopting any kind of social media strategy. All of these numbers beg the obvious question: why are businesses not embracing social media in the same way individuals are? Research suggests this is caused by a number of factors. Some businesses refuse to embrace it because they can&#39;t measure their return on investment; some feel it is an ineffectual tool for their client base; some think they will just be a small fish in a huge pond; whilst others can&#39;t find the staff who both understand their business, and are able to communicate about it through these new mediums. Some organisations have simply been scared off by the bad press received by others for their improper use of social media. Perhaps this is understandable when we consider how quickly social media has become the star of the internet stage. If a business was not paying attention to the latest trends, it would have been very easy to miss the social media bandwagon. We must also remember that the world experienced the woes of 2008, right in the middle of social media&#39;s rise to fame. At this time most businesses were more concerned with survival, rather than embracing new forms of communication. However, the numbers don&#39;t lie; social media is a powerful tool and it is not going to fade away. Businesses must embrace it - or risk looking like an embarrassing father figure who refuses to move away from his 1960&#39;s dress sense. Tools are now readily available to calculate the return on investment for social media and we have moved past the dark days of 2008. There is no more room for excuses - it is time to get on board. This is easier said than done. There is far more to social media than &quot;tweeting&quot; and &quot;liking&quot;. First of all, a business must create a social media strategy, outlining objectives and future plans. For example, an objective could be to create an online user group for customers, to collect and track customer reviews, to research responses to a competitor&#39;s product, or to monitor trends amongst current customers. Every business is unique and that means there is no one way of doing social media. Some businesses should embrace all channels, while others should focus on those most relevant to them. Businesses trying to communicate to executives will not use social media in the same way a retail business would. Once a strategy is in place, new media must be dealt with consistently. Having a presence on social media is good; but having a presence and not communicating through it can be more detrimental than no presence at all. Being consistent with social media means posting regularly and at a similar time each day. If this is done properly, a business will increase traffic to its website, engage with its audience, build a more favourable attitude toward its products or services and, most importantly, increase awareness of its brand. The opportunities provided by social media are vast - and growing with every new channel that arrives on the scene. Businesses will do well to analyse their current social media strategy, develop objectives for the future and start conducting consistent communication. We are living in an age of new and varied communication and businesses must find out how they can take advantage of it.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:43:34 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3596
New Years&#39; Resolution Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/jan/new-years-resolution/
As much as I would love to claim that this is the year that I will run a marathon, learn Spanish, and lay off the chocolate, I know that my resolve would break approximately fifteen minutes into my first training run. The one resolution that I have decided to make, is to be less of a scrooge with money, as I have realised that I don&#39;t actually benefit from this in the long run. I may save a few pennies here and there (although this too is debatable); but the time and energy I waste in the process is very rarely worth the hassle. In some ways, this is a resolution that many businesses should also consider making. When investing in new technology, companies often focus too much attention on the cost of the new system. They fail to consider in any depth the money that the new technology will save the organisation - or the new business and income that it will generate. Surely a better way of gauging whether a project is worthwhile involves focussing on the silver lining of return on investment (ROI); rather than the inevitable grey cloud of initial costs? There are several ways that ROI can be calculated. One simple method is to subtract the cost of an investment from the gain from the investment (to find the net benefit), and then divide the net benefit by the cost of the investment, before converting the answer to a percentage (e.g. &#163;350-&#163;300 = &#163;50; &#163;50/&#163;300 x 100 = 16%). This formula is very flexible, and the gains/costs included in the calculation can vary depending on the person performing the calculation. For example, it is likely that a marketer would use different inputs to a financial analyst. This has obvious downsides, as the ROI can be manipulated to some extent to show what the person performing the calculation wants to show. Naturally, evaluative ROI is easier to calculate than forecast ROI, as predicting all of the costs and benefits of a new system before the implementation has begun can be tricky. Nevertheless, the business analysis skills and consultancy services offered by your technology supplier can help identify these. Some examples of the types of benefit that should be included (and quantified) when calculating ROI are: decreases in time to perform repetitive tasks, increases in customers and customer satisfaction, improved employee performance, opportunities to redeploy employees on more productive tasks and fewer mistakes and customer complaints. The usefulness of ROI as a performance measure has been recognised by third sector organisations, who use a version of ROI to show the monetary value of their project outcomes. This is called social returns on investment (SROI), and was developed from social accounting and cost-benefit analysis. The UK government is increasingly using SROI to help determine the amount of funding awarded to charitable organisations. For example, when the SROI of Fab Pad (a project designed to help young homeless people sustain new tenancies) was calculated, it was found that for every pound the Government invested in the project, &#163;8.38 of social return was derived. This positive SROI came mainly from reductions in health care costs, welfare benefits expenditure, and costs of repeat homelessness. Unsurprisingly, Fab Pad were granted additional follow-on funding. Given the fact that it often takes a while for a positive ROI to manifest itself, it is not surprising that businesses tend to focus on the cost of software rather than the predicted ROI. In fact, being able to demonstrate the positive ROI of a system within one to two years of its implementation is uncommon. Organisations would therefore benefit from taking a longer term view of their technology projects, and from investing in trusted, long-term relationships with their technology suppliers. Like me, putting off marathon training because I know that it will be hard to begin with, these businesses are missing out on the long term benefits of up-to-date systems - purely because they are focusing on short term costs above all else. So, maybe this year it is time for a more long term view: focusing on the ROI (as well as any other intangible benefits) of updating technology; rather than just the initial outlay costs. As for me, it&#39;s time to invest in a good pair of running shoes…Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:39:02 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3589
Spring is in the air Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/feb/spring-is-in-the-air/
The ICT industry on the island faces challenges of course but is increasingly taking its place as a sector which is recognised in its own right. In fact for the last few decades developments in information technology have been transforming, or some would say disrupting, pretty much every field of business. The effect on retail has been particularly profound, as consumers we are increasingly willing to avail ourselves of greater choice, availability and price from efficient and trusted brands like Amazon. Yet at the same time we bemoan the associated decline in the offering on the high street. This Christmas has seen yet another increase in the proportion of goods bought on line, but behind the headline statistics there is something much more interesting going on. If you look at the winners and losers amongst the big retail brands this year it is those with the most mature hybrid models that seem to be doing best. John Lewis for example saw an increase in like for like sales of 6.9% overall with online sales up 23% and click and collect up 60%! Overall &#39;click and collect&#39; seems to have been the big winner this year, and not just for the retail chains. Services like Collect+ mean that any retail outlet be it corner shop or 24hour petrol station can become a collection point for a huge selection of branded stores from eBay to ASOS. Personally I think this is just the start of a really exciting phase in the development of retail business models. The critical mass of customers willing to engage on line is undoubtedly there, but the benefits of going to a retail outlet of some kind for at least part of the process is also undeniable. So, is it just about having a decent website? Well, whilst I would be the last person to dispute the value of a well-crafted website, the answer is still no, not really or at least not only…. The answer, or rather the question to be answered lies a little deeper in the design of your business - how and for whom do you create value? Speaking as a consumer (as opposed to an expert on retail) I would suggest that value is created in a number of broad categories the importance of which varies depending on what I am buying. Price is particularly important when buying a highly standardised or commodity item, why pay more when you know precisely what you want and it is always the same. Convenience quite often trumps price once you factor in the value of your own time (or health when you need that anniversary present, today! ) Choice, there is nothing worse than going down Strand Street with someone who can&#39;t find anything they like in stock, in their size… enough said, sort it out please! Service and in particular after sales service is a vital component particularly with more expensive purchases. This should be a major plus for bricks and mortar retailers but they often squander their advantage by being awkward about returns or lacking in depth product knowledge. Expertise, specialist products often require detailed explanations, demonstration, fitting, adaptation etc. Sometimes this expertise is hard to emulate online although big sites like Amazon do a good job of &#39;crowd sourcing&#39; product expertise through their ratings system. Sociability, shopping is partly a leisure activity undertaken with friends and family (and varying degrees of enthusiasm) the appearance of coffee shops and comfy chairs in book shops is I would suggest just the start. Just remember that your retail space can be more than just a place to display your wares, particularly if those wares are out there in the cloud. For Manx businesses there are also local factors to consider, but the overriding priority for our economy is for businesses to create a value proposition which replaces imports and creates opportunities for export. Each of the factors described above can be used to create value regardless of where a product has been manufactured, and it is important to remember that one of the main achievements of the revolution in technology is to make services easier to export. There isn&#39;t space here to analyse the importance of each of these factors to any particular product type but it is easy to see how they might relate differently to say a fashion purchase when compared to the weekly shop or buying a first new car. My view is simply that the smart approach for retailers is to think about their value proposition first and then see what technology can do to make them stand out from the competition. Innovation is about making technology work for you and where possible, allowing you to serve a much larger market than will ever be available on Strand Street.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:36:27 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3587
Artifical Intelligence - Should We Be Worried? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/feb/artifical-intelligence-should-we-be-worried/
You might have read recently that Facebook has announced plans to expand its use of artificial intelligence into its billion-member social network software, with the aim of getting to know you better and providing you with more relevant content in newsfeed rankings. With 1.2 billion users, Facebook has to have some way of sorting data into relevant content, like Google indexes websites with PageRank. The move comes as Facebook users have been increasingly complaining that stories they want to see are not appearing in their newsfeeds, however, can cutting edge software really think like a human and determine what we want to see? This intelligence software will analyse content, understand natural language and learn from our behaviours, such as deciphering the meaning behind what we share - teaching computers to decode the complexities of human language. Facebook&#39;s Artificial Intelligence lab will be the largest research facility of its kind in the world, with bases in New York, London and California - and all for Facebook! In a bid to keep users engaged and improving consumer experience, as well as increasing revenue growth through ads, it&#39;s easy to see why Facebook is investing such large amounts of time and money in artificial intelligence. But is this kind of artificial intelligence helpful or a hindrance? The ultimate outcomes of this artificial intelligence are yet unknown - it could simply improve user experience by generating better friend recommendations and news feeds, auto fill the location of every photo you upload and view, or it could even go as far as gauging your mood from your recent interactions, or generating ads that are relevant to your latest status. Such artificial intelligence will undoubtedly lead to the development of a whole host of consumer facing applications. What we have yet to explore however, is the isolating effects this could have on our social interactions if we are only shown and targeted with content Facebook thinks we want to see. For example, more and more of us are now using Facebook as a source of national and international news, with few businesses or news channels without a social presence. This could lead to a social bubble where we are only open to content that is relevant to our perceived interests, without a wider appreciation for activity going on outside these boundaries. However, whilst Facebook is undertaking such a massive artificial intelligence programme, we should note that they are not alone with many other organisations doing the same. In fact, Facebook have already been using artificial intelligence for some time, using algorithms for its social network graphs and news feeds.But will there become a point where the quest for generating revenue from ads surpasses consumer needs? Will we find ourselves in a world where the use of a social platform is misconceived as an online shopping store? The danger of such artificial intelligence is that our interests, likes and conversations are misused to enable advertisers to target us with unwanted ads and include us in searches available to every Facebook member. In addition we may face the loss of control over what content we can view without even realising it. The news follows announcements in April 2013 that more than 1 trillion social connections on Facebook are now searchable with questions like find &#39;friends of friends who are single in San Francisco&#39;. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook commented last year that his vision was for Facebook to &quot;understand the world&quot; and have people able to &quot;easily ask any question to Facebook and get it answered&quot;. Zuckerberg has even referenced used of voice recognition in the past. But should we be seeking to protect our privacy? Artificial intelligence that analyses our every move sure sounds like a scary concept! The dangerous side to making such intelligence readily available, is that it might be misused for online stalking and bullying. In addition, Facebook doesn&#39;t always alert it&#39;s users to changes which impact on privacy, for example, a recent change to Facebook&#39;s features have even quietly disabled opt out for timeline search. There is a worry that the integration of Facebook into our daily lives means that most people will continue to make use of the social platform, even if privacy concerns are heightened in the future. This is particularly true for people who do not keep up to date with the quiet changes that Facebook makes to its privacy settings, or those who do not understand the implications. Whilst we await the outcomes of Facebook&#39;s Artificial Intelligence Programme, perhaps this can serve as a gentle reminder for us all to be more vigilant when posting information online and to keep a better track of our privacy settings! 10 facts you didn&#39;t know about Facebook 1. Facebook hires hackersIn 2006, Chris Putnam hacked into Facebook and made thousands of profiles look like MySpace profiles. Facebook hired him. 2. Facebook doesn&#39;t allow breastfeeding photosFacebook was criticised by mothers when it yanked photos of breastfeeding babies that women had posted on their personal profiles because it deemed them a little too revealing. 3. Facebook causes divorces?A third of all divorce filings in 2011 contained the word &quot;Facebook&quot;. 4. Facebook was almost shut downA lawsuit by ConnectU claimed that Zuckerburg stole the idea and technology for Facebook but the case was settled out of court. 5. Facebook is a dumping ground25% of people have been dumped over Facebook. 6. FAD is a mental illnessOver 350million people suffer from Facebook Addiction Disorder. 7. Burger King gave away free burgers to users who unfriended people on FacebookIn January 2009, an advertising campaign from Burger King titled &quot;WHOPPER Sacrifice&quot; rewarded Facebook users a free &quot;Angry Whopper&quot; for publicly deleting 10 friends, who would then receive a blunt message informing they were deleted for a free hamburger. The campaign&#39;s tag line was &quot;Friendship Is Strong, but The Whopper Is Stronger.&quot; 8. Hack Facebook and end up with $500 in your hand 9. Court notices and summons sent through Facebook are legal and binding in Australia 10. A quirky factAdding the number four at the end of Facebook&#39;s URL will redirect you to Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s personal wall.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:35:05 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3585
Employed.im: what&#39;s in it for you? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/mar/employedim-whats-in-it-for-you/
Employed.im is the Isle of Man&#39;s free careers portal for students, job seekers, job changers and employers. It&#39;s also the Isle of Man&#39;s go-to resource for education and training opportunities, with information on topics ranging from how to choose a career, CV writing, apprenticeships and applying for grants, with resources for schools and teachers too. We are much more than a job listings website Employed.im isn&#39;t a recruitment agency or just a jobs listing site. Employers and recruitment agencies can post their job vacancies for free on our site and as a member you can receive vacancy alerts or browse the vacancies at your leisure, and apply for jobs direct. There are currently around 200 vacancies with over 150 registered employers. But employed.im offers so much more. You don&#39;t have to be on the lookout for a new job to sign up to employed.im. Use it as a free resource to update and manage your CV, in one easy to find location. If you are open to new job opportunities why not make your CV visible to employers so they can see who you are! Stand out with a video statement! We are the first on the Isle of Man to allow you to record your own video statement which you can choose to make visible to employers. This state of the art technology by local company The Needle, will help you stand out when applying for jobs, bringing your job applications to life. However, you can also keep your video private, and use it as a training tool for real life interviews. For employers it is really useful tool to see what candidates are like at the pre-interview stage. Stay Connected Employed.im is here for you throughout your career journey, even if you&#39;re not job hunting right now, it&#39;s worth staying in the loop for the career resources, events and training tools. So if you are tingling with excitement after reading this article, sign up to employed.im for free and stay in touch with the latest career related news and resources by finding us on Facebook &#39;employed.im&#39;, Twitter @employedim or on our LinkedIn group &#39;employed.im&#39;. You can also email us at admin@employed.im for more information. Media alert: Employed.im races ahead of UK plans Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made a major announcement at the end of February: to make it compulsory for all local councils to have a one stop jobs and careers website to help young people who aren&#39;t going to university to decide their future. When we heard this news we were delighted - employed.im already provides this service for the Isle of Man - but much more, and for every age group too! Looks like we&#39;re one step ahead of the rest. Why should I register? Employed.im is a free resource. See what employed.im can do for you: I&#39;m an … employer Post a company profile to boost your companies&#39; visibility in the employment sector Upload your job vacancies and view candidate CVs and video statements Post information on your volunteer schemes Find apprentices Join our LinkedIn group for the latest news Promote your events Talk to us about integrating your company forms I&#39;m a … job seeker Read about how to improve your employability Find out about training and courses to enhance your career prospects Find out how to make a career change Read top tips on CV writing and interview preparation Join our Facebook and Twitter pages for daily tips and resources Find out about local events such as seminars and talks Browse job vacancies I&#39;m a … student Get help choosing a career Find out what grants are available to you View courses and training providers Find out about part time work Find out about work experience opportunities Read exams advice and results support Find out how to prepare for an interview and write a CV I&#39;m a … teacher Find online teaching resources View Isle of Man networking opportunities See career information for your students Find out how to help prepare your students for work experience I&#39;m a … training provider Get in touch so we can add you to our list of course providers Send us details of courses that we can feature in our events section Talk to us about integrating your training forms and applicationsMon, 19 Oct 2015 11:30:10 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3578
Wearable Technology: Fad or Future? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/may/wearable-technology-fad-or-future/
Now the technology market is making way for the rise of wearable technology - devices worn on, or even inside the body, that connect both the power of &#39;smart&#39; devices with the capability of cloud computing&#39;s storage and data handling. The release of Google Glass In the last year or two you may have seen or heard about Google&#39;s latest innovation, new wearable technology glasses - &#39;Google Glass&#39;. The glasses can take videos, capture images and project information right into the eye of the wearer using tiny displays. Last month saw the first batch of Google Glasses released for sale to the general public In the USA and, despite the initial price tag of around $1500, they are quickly being snapped up. Analysts predict that the annual market for wearable technology will be worth more than $10 billion by 2016 and $50 billion by 2018. Wearable devices in the workplace &#39;BYOD&#39; (bring your own devices) into the workplace has become commonplace in 2014, with employers accepting and even encouraging the use of personal devices for business purposes, but will we soon see a rise in employees wishing to use their personal wearable technology in the workplace? The potential for such devices to capture sensitive and confidential information, images and data could present challenges which most businesses are not yet prepared to deal with. Some companies have even already banned Google Glass! However, will your employers expect you to embrace this new technology? San Francisco social media startup, Buffer issues &#39;Jawbone Up&#39;, a wearable wrist tracker to all new employers as standard. It collects and shares data with the rest of the team on employees&#39; goals, progress and even sleep patterns, as part of their &#39;wellness&#39; and transparency programme. They even use the trackers to screen job applications. It might be some time before employees on this side of the Atlantic are ready to share this amount of personal information! Data protection These wearable devices have the ability to capture a huge amount of data about the individual wearer, including their GPS location, activity and health. For example, wearable devices can detect whether you are going to be late for a meeting based on your GPS location, and they can automatically contact the person you are meeting to tell them you are running late and provide an estimated arrival time. But how much control does a wearer have over their personal data and what security measures will be in place to protect this? Wearable devices capture images and footage of individuals in the vicinity of the wearer - presenting a number of fears around privacy and security. This could present a particularly heightened challenge for the use of such devices commercially. Would you wear one? Amidst all the hype around the rise of wearable technology, there are also the detractors. Scepticism is often a natural response to an emerging technology.It would seem that every major tech company from Dell to Microsoft, from Sony to Blackberry is currently developing a wearable gadget - the majority of them being smart watches. However, not every development is a runaway success. Even Samsung, which dominates the smartphone market, flopped with its smartwatch, Galaxy Gear, which ended up being given away with its Samsung Galaxy Note 3! So is it just a case of marketers feeding us with new gadgets to boost their brand? Or will we really find use in these wearables, once the right ones have been developed? Fashion forward The only wearables that have seen some popularity to date include fitness wristbands like Sony&#39;s Smartband, Nike&#39;s Fuelband and the Fitbit - according to Endeavour Partners, one in 10 American&#39;s over 18 now own a fitness-tracking device. However, unlike other wearable technology, fitness wristbands are relatively unobtrusive and provide a very specific purpose related to fitness and health. Other wearable devices may have a long way to go until they will be accepted by the general public. They&#39;ll also need a face lift if they don&#39;t want to leave us looking like extras in Star Trek! Google have already spotted this issue and are currently partnering with Luxottica, the maker of Oakley and Ray-Van sunglasses, to try and make their Glass more stylish. Crowd Sourcing Despite privacy fears, wearable technology does have the ability to significantly improve complex healthcare - using wearable health technology to cost-efficiently administer evidence-based treatments and to vastly improve electronic health records and history of individuals. Moreover, pooling data voluntarily from whole populations can crowd source valuable healthcare information in real time, enabling population trends and better preventative healthcare to be researched and managed. A distraction from the real world? In March Google released a post on Google+ dispelling many fears and accusations over its Google Glass product. Google are keen to quench suspicions that its wearable technology is just another step towards us all becoming far too dependent on technology. However, Google insists that its product helps people live life in real time, instead of through a screen using phones or tablets. Who&#39;s already embraced wearable technology? Tesco&#39;s distribution in Ireland are using smart armbands to track goods and measure workers&#39; movements. SITA, the air transport industry&#39;s IT provider has commented that smart watches, smart glasses and other wearable computing devices will be part of the airport of the future. The Virginia Tech College of Engineering in the United States are developing pulse oximeters So will 2014 really be the year of the wearable device? The general consensus seems to be that we&#39;ll have to wait a little longer for wearables to go mainstream. For wearables to really catch on, the focus needs to shift away from the actual gadget to what the gadget allows you to do. Although I&#39;m no expert, it seems that you can already do all the things on your smartphone that you can do with Google Glass. If the big tech companies can develop wearables that provide original and compelling benefits for the wearer, then there will be no stopping them.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:24:44 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3576
PNLD &amp; PDMS announce website to aid new Police and Crime Commissioners News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/oct/pnld-pdms-announce-website-to-aid-new-police-and-crime-commissioners/
On 15th November 2012, the public across England and Wales will elect Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). The newly created role will replace Police Authorities, as part of the Coalition government&#39;s effort to make Police Forces more accountable to the public whilst they continue to deliver efficient and effective policing. PNLD and technology partner, PDMS (the partnership responsible for the successful Ask The Police websites, launched 2005), have developed a new web portal - Ask The Commissioner - which provides nationally consistent answers to over 100 of the public&#39;s most frequently asked questions about Police and Crime Commissioners. Helping Police and Crime Commissioners answer the public&#39;s policing questions Despite the president of ACPO describing the creation of PCCs as the biggest change to policing since 1829 and the elections being just 46 days away, a recent poll* has revealed that 73% of those questioned did not know anything about the elections, (of women polled this figure rose to 82%). As the elections approach, it is expected that the public will want to learn more about the role of the Police and Crime commissioner (PCC) and how their new Commissioner will represent them and their communities. 77% of households in England and Wales are now online; when questions arise, the internet is now the first place most people search for answers. The existing AskThePolice websites have proved the popularity of this format. Benefit to the public in England and Wales The new Ask the Commissioner portal contains nationally-consistent answers to the 100 most frequently asked questions about the new role of Commissioners, which can easily be searched by the public. The site also allows Police and Crime Commissioners to upload more in-depth information which is specific to their region, meaning that users (members of the public) can begin their search for information by selecting their local force. Answers can also be searched alphabetically and by category. If a user can&#39;t find the answer they&#39;re looking for, they can submit a question to be answered. Cost effective, timely technical delivery PNLD is run as a not-for-profit organization and so the new FAQ portal had to be cost effective. PDMS were able to base the Ask the Commissioner website on the existing Ask the Police platform, re-using the underlying technology. This meant that development was extremely cost effective and had the added advantage of making the development and launch time extremely quick, ahead of the PCC elections in November. By implementing one central national database, using PDMS&#39; FoundationsTM platform, it is expected that PNLD, through the Ask the Commissioner website, will save valuable frontline resources. Inclusion on the AsktheCommissioner website is offered to PCCs as a managed service, which includes; Hosting, licensing, maintenance and support of the website Updating the frequently asked questions and answers Answering more specific emailed questions and answers Providing statistics to highlight areas of concern for the publicMon, 19 Oct 2015 11:23:27 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3575
PDMS and UK Cloud Alliance participating in Cloud Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/sep/pdms-and-uk-cloud-alliance-participating-in-cloud-conference/
PDMS will be attending as representatives of the UK Cloud Alliance at the&#160;&#39;Cloud Computing in the Public Sector&#39; conference in Holyrood, Edingurgh. The UK Cloud Alliance (UKCA) is a small collective of screened and trusted suppliers working together to serve UK business with the best that cloud computing has to offer. The UK Cloud Alliance will be hosting one of the conferences interactive workshops - focussing on &#39;Creating your Private Cloud Managed Service.&#39; The seminar will be led by three leading members of the UK Cloud Alliance - namely Star, Ubertas and PDMS and will highlight how UKCA are providing customers and organisations with end-to-end Cloud Services, that integrate back office commodity systems with mission critical production environments. The benefits derived from these services allow public sector organisations to reduce costs and complexity, drive innovation around processes, improve user experience and work within the demand for security, risk and governance practices. This workshop will provide decision-makers in the public sector with an informed perspective on Cloud Managed Services and how they can truly live up to their hype and expectation. Most importantly, however, the Cloud Alliance will highlight how these services really work, sharing case study examples of monetary savings and real total cost of ownership from public sector organisations already benefitting from UKCA experience and expertise. The Cloud Computing in the Public Sector 2012 event represents a unique opportunity to hear from government representatives, academics and business experts on the way forward for cloud computing in Scotland&#39;s public sector and offers a forum for all interested parties to share ideas and expertise. Speakers include Denise McDonagh - UK G-Cloud Programme Director and Director of UK Home Office IT. PDMS will be represented at the event by Chris Gledhill and Bruce McGregor. PDMS was recently awarded a place on the UK Government&#39;s new G-Cloud Framework to provide Software as a Service (SaaS) and Specialist Cloud Services. The G-Cloud is the UK Government&#39;s programme to support the UK public sector&#39;s adoption of cloud-based services.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:14:42 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3568
&#39;Digital Design&#39; Launch New-Look Website News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/sep/digital-design-launch-new-look-website/
It has been a year of change for the team, which saw Andrew Cairns return to PDMS in the role Project Manager of the Digital Design team, having previously worked for the company for four years until 2005. The team also welcomes new additions to PDMS, Chris Sprague and Jayne Hartley. PDMS developers Sam Hamer, Martin Kerr as well as analyst Trish McDonough have moved into Digtial Design from other teams within PDMS. Our lead designer Jim Rawson, continues to drive Digital Design&#39;s creative output. The new site (www.digitaldesign.co.uk) has been built using Umbraco content management system (CMS). Umbraco is a leading CMS platform that powers an impressive number of international websites including corporate sites for Heinz and Peugeot as well as Microsoft&#39;s flagship www.asp.net. PDMS is an accredited partner of the Danish web publishing company, and our staff have undergone in-depth Umbraco training programme to become Certified Umbraco Professionals. Recent projects highlighted on the website include the Manx Radio election website for last year&#39;s Isle of Man general election, the Red Ensign shipping group website and the website for local business, Adventurous Experiences.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 10:48:49 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3562
PDMS to attend the 2012 Monaco Yacht Show News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/aug/pdms-to-attend-the-2012-monaco-yacht-show/
The event, which takes place from the 19th to the 22nd September in the principality of Monaco, will feature over 500 exhibitors who will be attending from over 36 countries; over 100 superyachts will also be on display. PDMS have recently created a dedicated maritime team which is focusing on working with a number of clients, ranging from international ship registries through to ship management companies. Our maritime team is developing a keen insight into some of the issues and challenges faced by the sector, and are putting this domain knowledge to good use to help our clients work more efficiently and deliver a better service to their clients. PDMS have designed and built a complete solution for ship registries, named &quot;MARIS&quot; (Marine Administration &amp;amp; Registry Information System).&#160;If you would like to find out more about MARIS please&#160;take a look at our&#160;latest&#160;brochure. If you are in Monaco and would like to arrange a meeting with Bruce McGregor, PDMS&#39;s Sales Director please email&#160;bruce.mcgregor@pdms.comMon, 19 Oct 2015 10:38:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3560
New PCC Solutions showcased by PNLD and PDMS at Police Conference News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/jun/new-pcc-solutions-showcased-by-pnld-and-pdms-at-police-conference/
This year promises to be an unprecedented time of change for the UK police with the creation of new national agencies and the election of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC). With a varied agenda and speaker list, including Tom Winsor, a wide range of topics will be covered including collaboration between forces, partnerships with the private and public sectors and the procurement of central and local services. PDMS&#39; Giles Milner and Nigel Hughes from&#160;The Police National Legal Database (PNLD) team, one of PDMS&#39; longstanding clients, are attending the event to highlight some of their innovative solutions to help the general public find out more about the role of the new Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) and to also help the PCC&#39;s communicate efficiently and cost effectively with their stakeholders. Drawing on the success of their Ask the Police website, developed by PDMS, PNLD have created an Ask the Commissioner web portal&#160;which provides an online knowledge bank where the public can quickly and easily find out answers to frequently asked questions. PNLD and PDMS are also offering a fully managed website service to help the new PCCs get up and running quickly and cost effectively. The website will enable PCCs to communicate and interact online with all of their stakeholders, including their local communities, regional and national agencies including Custody Visitors and Police and Crime Panels. Through PNLD, we are also offering our DoxShare&#160;as an effective way for PCC&#39;s to securely manage, store and distribute documents such as minutes, reports and policies.Mon, 19 Oct 2015 10:23:54 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3558
PDMS to attend the Posidonia International Shipping Exhibition News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/may/pdms-to-attend-the-posidonia-international-shipping-exhibition/
The event, which takes place from the 4th - 8th June in the Metropolitan Expo Centre, will showcase over 1,800 exhibitors who will be attending from over 87 countries around the world. PDMS have designed and built a complete solution for ship registries, named &quot;MARIS&quot; (Marine Administration &amp;amp; Registry Information System). If you would like to find out more about MARIS please take a look at our latest brochure. If you are attending Posidonia and would like to arrange a meeting with Bruce McGregor, PDMS&#39;s Sales Director please email bruce.mcgregor@pdms.comMon, 19 Oct 2015 10:15:01 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3557
PDMS strengthens Isle of Man team News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/apr/pdms-strengthens-isle-of-man-team/
Andrew Cairns re-joins PDMS as a Project Manager having previously worked for the company for four years until 2005. Andrew brings with him a vast amount of experience and expertise gained in the engineering, construction and IT sectors, where he has overseen the construction of almost everything from traditional looms to hi-tech datacentres. A Chartered Manager, Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and Member of the Association of Project Management, Andrew is highly knowledgeable about corporate ISO standards and brings valuable experience back to PDMS. Jayne Hartley takes up the role of Analyst, after joining PDMS from Zurich International Life. Jayne is Manx and attended St Ninians and Ballakermeen High Schools. After spending 13 years living in the South East of England, working predominantly during that time as a Business Analyst in London based software houses, Jayne returned to the island in 2007. Jayne will be working on a number of projects in the maritime sector with our growing portfolio of ship registry clients. Mahmud Khaled joins PDMS as a developer. Mahmud has over six years&#39; experience having previously worked in the e-gaming industry developing enterprise applications for outfits in both the Isle of Man and South-East Asia. In his new role Mahmud will be working with a wide variety of local and international clients, both in the public and private sectors. Managing Director Chris Gledhill commented &#39;I am delighted to welcome Jayne and Mahmud to the technical team at PDMS. I think they will bring a great deal of enthusiasm and experience to an already strong team. I am also particularly pleased to welcome Andrew back to the company, I am sure we will get a double benefit from his previous experience here and the knowledge he has gained during the last few years.&#39;Mon, 19 Oct 2015 09:48:06 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/3554
Serious Conversations Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/jul/serious-conversations/
A quick look at Wikipedia and I have learned that anthroposemiotics, is the field dedicated to understanding how people communicate, which just goes to show how good we are at making up new words. Anyway, nice though it is to circumlocute, I should probably get to the point… … Which is that our love of communication has been the major force in driving the development of technology, more or less in parallel with our love of trade. Ever since the wireless telegraph, technological innovations which facilitate conversation have taken off and grown exponentially; often far beyond any reasonable expectation, SMS, email, Facebook and Twitter are all examples of our seemingly insatiable appetite for… blether (scot). The connection between talk and trade is also pretty inescapable. Wherever people gather for a natter other people will try and sell them stuff, which pretty much sums up Facebook. Social media, or Web 2.0 as it is sometimes called, is based on a simple formula. Give people free facilities for social interaction and then in return use the information and attention they give you to sell them things. And, provided everybody understands the deal, this seems perfectly reasonable to me. Despite its enormous success the social media formula has its limitations - the openness which has allowed such exponential growth is a barrier when it comes to more serious conversations. In many creative fields, such as the music industry, protecting intellectual property has become much harder. Legitimate concerns about privacy and excessive state control seriously inhibit data sharing between government agencies and, even in business, we pay for this every time we want to open a new bank account. For me the next challenge in the application of technology to the real world is in the facilitation of &#39;serious&#39; conversations. My first example and a source of considerable frustration recently is KYC or as most of us seem to experience it - you clearly don&#39;t know your customer! It is perfectly reasonable to expect financial institutions to check the identity of the people they do business with but once they know who we are, we would quite like them to remember. Producing a passport and utility bill - again - to open an account with a bank where you have had a current account for 20 years is, frankly, ridiculous. This type of inconvenience is a total failure to use IT effectively, despite the trillions spent on systems by the finance sector globally. It creates a genuine drag on legitimate business and is totally ineffective in preventing real financial crime, a lot of which seems to be committed from the inside anyway. Sorry - got a bit carried away there! But I think many people who work in the banking sector would share their customer&#39;s frustration. The problem is actually quite simple, banking systems are built to service accounts, not people, for perfectly understandable historic reasons. No amount of investment in Customer Relationship Management systems over the top of accounts has solved this for us. A quite different and very interesting challenge exists in education, not just schools but right across the spectrum of learning communication and verification. Here the challenge is more to do with blending flexibility and access to the very best content with human interaction and individual communication. Put simply the best teachers are limited by place and time and it is difficult to exploit their talents more widely and reward them accordingly. Meanwhile the structure of the qualifications that define educational success is incredibly rigid in both timing and design. There seems to be a strong feeling that technology could be the key to a better way to communicate knowledge, both to the learner and back to the assessor. The challenge is to find ways to do this which both value expertise and retain the human interaction which makes learning fun. My final example is in the way we share information with the &#39;powers that be&#39;. For most of us, and for most of the time, we provide information to government agencies primarily to access services. Health, education, planning, social security, the registration of births deaths and marriages, work permits, jobs, children&#39;s holiday sports, the list goes on. Some of these services are provided directly, and some are contracted out, but all require the exchange of very similar information, and whilst we don&#39;t want our personal information to be shared without our consent - it would be nice not to have to provide it quite so often. Here again the problem lies with systems which are designed around functions rather than people and certainly not designed to make communication flow more freely. All of these examples represent the sort of serious conversations we sometimes have to have and the less they get in the way of serious gossiping the better. So my challenge to the world of ICT is to build Web 3.0 to make serious conversations cheaper, simpler, safer and more human because humans plus technology equals communication.Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:57:09 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2539
PDMS ahead of the game when it comes to joining up Government Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/aug/pdms-ahead-of-the-game-when-it-comes-to-joining-up-government/
In a recent article by Socitm, &#39;No to single local government website, yes to common platform for local government tools and applications&#39;, the idea of creating a common platform for local authorities (&quot;LAs&quot;) is heralded as a digitally enabling and essential concept for citizens and businesses to access local services. LAs are independent and democratically accountable, with increasing responsibility due to the&#160;Localism Act 2011, which is devolving more decision making powers away from central government, back to communities and councils, to service the people&#39;s needs in that area. LAs therefore require specific services with local democratic engagement. Socitm were responding to recent calls for a single local government website - an idea which they have rejected on the grounds that it &#39;ignores the independence of local authorities as organisations that have different democratic mandates and priorities... local government is exactly that. Local requirements, whether of geography, size, demographics or politics, must continue to drive council websites.&#39; With differences in services offered, democratic processes and population demographics -integration between a central government website and local authorities would negate any cost savings, with increased outsourcing requirements and complicated systems, as well as disruptions to service levels. However, Soctim actively supports the sharing of software tools and applications used in local government, including those that support self-service delivery. Managing Director of PDMS, Chris Gledhill welcomes the article commenting, &quot;We have always advocated the idea of common platforms to help reduce duplication and deliver cost savings - it&#39;s at the core of our approach to delivering successful technology projects. What LA&#39;s need is a common platform which puts the customer at the centre and then they (the LA&#39;s) can build services their customers want to be part of. This actively supports the sharing of information across the different authorities and councils, saving costs through shared software tools, API, code, platform assets and applications, whilst working towards a more joined-up Government. We have seen the inflexible one size fits all approach tried and fail many times, often costing the taxpayers millions in the process - for instance the NHS National Programme for IT. It is time to adopt a more citizen-centric approach more reflective of the digital age - even to the extent of giving citizens ownership of their own data&quot;. As an example of the &#39;build once and share&#39; model - PDMS have launched&#160;PDMS Employed&#160;- a ready-to-use platform that supports LAs&#39; efforts to address employability issues - helping to connect skills, employment and education in their local area. PDMS believe that the best way for the public sector to deliver complex services online, to a high st andard of usability, performance and security, is to adopt a user-centric approach, with the public taking ownership of their own data and service needs via a central portal for LAs. Investing in this approach will not only lead to long term cost savings, avoiding duplication of resources, data, procurement and scope, but will reduce the Government&#39;s dependence on inflexible and large IT projects. Employed has been created to address the core issues that many LA&#39;s are facing in relation to employment, particularly in the area of youth engagement, whilst at the same time being flexible enough to support a range of additional services. In September 2013, the Cabinet Offices&#39; review of employment, education and training for 16-24 year olds, called for the collaboration of colleges, Jobcentre Plus and LAs to work together as one careers hub in each area. Whilst In February, Nick Clegg also proposed that all local councils should have a &quot;one stop&quot; website for jobs and careers, run by LAs. For further commentary on joining up government or software solutions for LAs, or to find out more about PDMS&#39; Employed platform please contact&#160;sales@pdms.com.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 17:16:04 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2538
The Sharing Economy - What’s mine is yours (for the right price) Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/aug/the-sharing-economy-what-s-mine-is-yours-for-the-right-price/
Recently listed as one of the &#39;10 ideas that will change the world&#39; in Time Magazine, the sharing economy is being touted as one of the most disruptive economic and social movements of our time. Often referred to as the &#39;peer economy&#39; or &#39;collaborative economy&#39;, the sharing economy is an economic model based on individual&#39;s sharing underutilized assets - ranging from spaces to skills to possessions- largely for monetary benefits. As a concept it&#39;s currently in the early stages - with its growth being driven largely by new peer to peer exchanges (P2P) launched by tech savvy start-ups, but there are hundreds of new ventures springing up every day. Some of the more well-known players in the sharing economy, who have been grabbing the headlines, include Uber - an internet taxi app which connects car drivers with passengers, Airbnb, a portal which allows people to rent out spare rooms to strangers for short stays, EasyCar club (part of the Stelios Easy empire) which lets owners rent out their cars when they aren&#39;t using them and JustPark which claims to be the world&#39;s largest online parking market place -connecting home and business users who would like to earn money from renting out their parking space or driveway. Many of these start-ups have caught the eye of venture capitalists looking to back the winners who will become the market leaders - Airbnb has raised over $800 million in funding whilst Uber has raised an eye watering $1.8 billion since 2010. Proof that the sharing economy isn&#39;t another flash in the technology pan. Of course, sharing isn&#39;t a new concept. As a student in the 1990&#39;s I spent some time at a German University where we&#39;d regularly gather around a large map covered in drawing pins and bits of paper with names and telephone numbers of people offering lifts to different cities around the country, in exchange for contributions towards their petrol costs. It was a great way to travel long distances very cheaply whilst meeting some interesting characters along the way. Not that I told my parents that I was, in effect, hitchhiking around Germany (sorry Mum!). Isle of Man residents have been participating in the sharing economy for a number of years - renting out their rooms, or entire houses, to grateful motorcycle race fans who visit the island to watch the TT races. So what&#39;s driving the sharing economy? There are a number of factors but, undoubtedly, the greatest enabler is technology - seamlessly linking supply and demand in a way that wasn&#39;t possible before. Social media has helped too, especially Facebook - people are generally more comfortable connecting and meeting new people using technology. Add to the mix payment and online identity systems and smart phones with location aware apps and you see how the stage is set for sharing on a national and international level. Commentators have also pointed to the fact that the sharing economy really began to take off just as the credit crunch set in. The financial crisis has had a serious impact on many household incomes and as a result people were looking for new creative ways to make ends meet - whether that wasby making or saving money. Renting out your assets to boost your income or hiring instead of buying - both have an impact on the money in your pocket. easyCar Club claims that UK households could make &#163;650 a month (or just over &#163;7,800 a year) by sharing assets. For example, one car that sits idle for an average of 2.69 days a week could make its owners &#163;3,200 per year, while 33% of homes have space in a drive or garage that could earn the owners &#163;630. Apparently a church in London&#39;s King&#39;s Cross, using the JustPark service, has made &#163;200,000 to date from Eurostar passengers wanting a safe place to park their cars. Others are citing a value shift which is taking place amongst a more connected society - with people much more open to sharing and more accepting of renting in the digital age - and happy to make these arrangements online too. In fact, Rachel Botsman, one of the leading commentators and advocates of the sharing economy, goes as far as saying that sharing things with strangers allows us to make meaningful connections - as peer-to-peer sharing &quot;involves the re-emergence of community&quot;. This means that trust is vital for ventures operating in the sharing economy. A lot of the services rely on ratings and reciprocal reviews to build trust among their users. We&#39;ve been exchanging billions of items on eBay for over a decade and we are used to giving and leaving feedback and basing our purchasing decisions on the trustworthiness of the seller based on the review of others. Travelling half way across the world to stay in a stranger&#39;s house is much less daunting when you can read positive testimonials from previous guests. There&#39;s also a green element to sharing and renting - it promotes re-use of our finite resources which means less production and less wastage - all good news for the planet. The sharing economy has really taken off in America but it seems that we Brits may be just a little bit more reticent to share in the UK than our European or American counterparts. According to a recent major study by Nielsen - more than a third of British consumers are willing to embrace the sharing economy and hire out their personal possessions, yet they trail significantly behind 54% of Europeans and 68% of people globally who would do the same. The survey also revealed that younger people, who have grown up with Smart Phones and Facebook, are much more willing to embrace the idea of sharing than the older generations As with all new disruptive technological advances, there will be losers as well as winners. Critics have emphasised the impact on traditional industries, who have to abide by rules and regulations, which they claim, are being unfairly undermined. You may have heard about the taxi drivers, in major cities across the globe - from Paris to San Francisco, protesting against Uber. They claim that it&#39;s unfair competition as they have to pay for plates and licences and then there&#39;s the issue of insurance. Some of the regulators are unimpressed too but they are having to deal with laws that were enacted when the concept of &quot;on-demand ride sharing&quot; didn&#39;t exist. Uber and other companies are facing bans, fines and court battles in cities across America. Back in the UK, some councils wanted to fine householders up to &#163;20,000 for renting out their driveways if they had not secured planning permission for a change of use. The Communities Secretary put a stop to this with new regulations that allow people to make a bit of extra money from renting out their driveway. Loss in tax revenues is also causing a dilemma too - as many municipalities, particularly in America, rely on tax funds for the provision of basic services. For example, hotel taxes contribute greater to the public coffers but they are being eroded when people elect to stay at a private house they&#39;ve found via Airbnb. The trade unions aren&#39;t happy either - putting forward the argument that the sharing economy converts unqualified labour into a rival workforce, made up of workers doing an inferior job on the cheap. Others believe that it&#39;s sharing without caring - it&#39;s micro-capitalism with individuals and the platform providers, effectively the intermediaries, making money. So what&#39;s next for the sharing economy? It&#39;s a trend which is going to build momentum and diversify into a wide range of areas. There are already a growing number of online lending services - matching people who need to borrow money with those willing to lend it, cutting out the banks altogether. Many of the platform providers are looking to make additional revenues beyond their transactional revenues (the cut they make for matching up supply and demand), by providing added value services. For example, DogVacay--which is targeting the estimated $8 billion pet services and boarding market in the USA, by connecting traveling dog owners with temporary hosts--provides $4 million in liability coverage, has developed an app so hosts can share pictures of the dog with its owner, and is exploring providing GPS collars so pups can be tracked. The sharing economy movement is now making inroads in the Business to Business sector too. Floow2 allows you rent out or hire high-end equipment such as forklift trucks or earth moving machines - allowing businesses to earn extra money from expensive assets which would otherwise cost them money. Operating in the healthcare sector, Cohealo helps hospitals share expensive medical technology - it has over 200,000 clinical devices available for use in Operating Rooms across various health systems in America. On the Isle of Man, now that we have to find extra money to pay the unpopular &#39;toilet tax&#39; and given the diminishing number of public conveniences, maybe we should embrace the sharing economy and offset the expense by renting out our toilets!Fri, 09 Oct 2015 17:03:54 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2527
Do it right - first time? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/sep/do-it-right-first-time/
Our new company strapline is &quot;PDMS do it right&quot;. We help our customers to &quot;do technology right&quot; so that they get the maximum value from their investment. Our teams conduct themselves in the &quot;right way&quot; - if a job is worth doing then it&#39;s worth doing well. They care about the quality of their work, and they design and build systems that last. This new strapline has led me to ponder the quality management concept of &quot;right first time&quot;, and how it applies in our line of work for the benefit our clients and the users of the systems we create. Right First Time PDMS is certified to a number of international &quot;ISO&quot; standards (in relation to our quality management, information security and environmental policies and procedures). At the heart of these is a commitment to continuous improvement, and by implication an appreciation that you can&#39;t be right all the time. Nevertheless, you should endeavour to get &#39;it&#39; right first time most of the time; and if you don&#39;t succeed, provided that you recognise your mistakes, correct them and learn from them, then you&#39;re more likely to get it right next time. We all know that if you get it right at the outset, you&#39;re less likely to waste time fixing your mistakes. There is a lot of merit, and money to be saved, in aiming for high quality the first time, and every subsequent time too. This principle is at the heart of PDMS&#39;s approach to software development. Our tried and tested FoundationsTM platform provides us with the key building blocks for each new IT system, and enables us to get our projects off the ground quickly and with high quality code. But how &#39;right&#39; do you really need to be the &#39;first time&#39;? As a perfectionist at heart this is something that I&#39;ve often struggled with; until a sensible colleague suggested that sometimes &#39;good enough, is good enough&#39;. Often it is worth taking a punt - on getting something done and out there sooner rather than later, enabling it to subsequently be improved and evolve as and when time, budgets and priorities allow. This kind of flexibility is fundamental to the PDMS approach to software development, as all our systems are built to allow for future adaptation and extension. This also suits our clients, whose lists of &#39;nice to haves&#39; usually exceed the initial limits of their allocated budget. Our clients and IT projects generally share a series of common goals: Improve efficiency. Reduce admin. Increase productivity. Enable more fulfilling tasks. Save time. Save money. Increase profitability. Enhance quality. Improve customer service. The list goes on… But like most projects, there is usually an inevitable conflict between time, money and quality. So this is where a mutual understanding of priorities and objectives really comes into play. If you can get the &#39;people&#39; part of a project right, then this really helps with shaping the delivery of the right technical solutions, outcomes and results. Getting it right is all about conversation, collaboration and the long term perspective. So, what does this actually mean in reality? Let me share some examples. Police National Legal Database (PNLD) A key public sector client of PDMS is PNLD - the team responsible for the Police National Legal Database and other services which support Police forces across the UK. As their technical partner for over 10 years, PDMS has been actively involved in helping PNLD to design, deliver and sustain a number of innovative IT systems which save the Police millions of pounds per year. These systems include the: Police National Legal Database - used by police officers and the criminal justice sector to access up-to-date legal information, case law and standard offense wording, and accessed by 200,000 users with 2.5 million visits in 2013/14. Police National Statistics Database - which revolutionised access to crime and user satisfaction data, making significant efficiency savings for 40 police forces in England and Wales. Ask the Police Websites (www.askthe.police.uk and www.askthe.Scottish.police.uk) and Mobile Apps - these question and answer sites have slashed the number of non-emergency phone calls to the Police, and the Help for Victims Website - to provide support for the victims and witnesses of crime (due for release in October 2014). Each of these systems has undergone a series of evolutionary changes over the years, a key example being the Ask the Police website. At its core, this website is a database of frequently asked questions and answers. It was launched with its key features (commonly asked questions and answers at national and local levels, and ask a question facilities) in 2004. The service was so successful in the UK that it was extended to Scotland in 2010; and into mobile apps in 2012. The underlying technology is currently being enhanced further to create a Help for Victims website, which enables questions and answers to be provided in a number of alternative languages (including some which are read from right to left across the screen). It is a long term perspective, open discussions and shared understandings which have enabled PDMS and PNLD to get this collaborative relationship right. The result is the delivery of technical solutions which are right for their users and sponsors for both the short term and the long term. Employed.im Another example of PDMS&#39; commitment to the long term potential and gradual advancement of an initiative is employed.im. Employed.im began life in 2008 as Manx Graduates, a portal created for the Isle of Man Government to encourage Manx students graduating from university to return to the Island to work, and in 2010 it was a finalist at the National Graduate Recruitment Awards. Given changing economic priorities and the actual user base of the website, Manx Graduates was re-launched in 2013 as employed.im, the Isle of Man jobs and careers portal. Its purpose: to connect all those interested in skills and employment on the Island. Employed.im now features: useful information, resources and links regarding careers, personal development and training, search facilities - for jobs, candidates and employers, job vacancy listings, individual CVs (with video profiles and export to word and pdf features), employer profiles, messaging, notification emails and online application forms. And it is currently undergoing a bit of a makeover. The new homepage (to be launched later this year) will feature the latest jobs, news and Twitter feeds, a quick job search and easier to navigate information (see below image). Given that unemployment is so low on the Isle of Man, the employed.im site is not just about enabling the unemployed to find work, it is about career development for the individual for the long term, and the provision of joined up information and services for our community now and into the future. For example, since individuals can use the site to create and update their CV, the forthcoming &quot;Get a Job&quot; Initiative by Junior Achievement will use employed.im to support their CV writing training for school pupils across the island. Employers can post their job advertisements in employed.im and search for potential candidates - and they could also sign up to receive completed job application forms through the portal. Further enhancements and integrations could also include: the bulk uploading of multiple jobs, integration with other job vacancy lists, professional bodies members administration, sign in with Facebook credentials, instant chat for online mentoring and careers advice, job seeker/ benefits processes, work permit applications and &#39;open badges&#39; integration. The site could also be used to manage work experience placements, apprenticeships and traineeships, plus training courses and volunteering opportunities. It could include directories of supply teachers, contractors, carers, personal assistants or healthcare bank staff. It could be used to publish and manage tender opportunities, and useful content and feeds (such as vacancies) could be provided as services for re-use within other websites, or to support specific promotional campaigns (like the recruitment of teachers or engineers). Given that there are so many potential uses and enhancements for employed.im, the &#39;right&#39; direction will depend on identified needs, budgets and priorities over the long long-term. Collaboration will be key to getting it right, and getting it right &#39;first time&#39; is perhaps less important than getting it right &#39;for now&#39;. This is true for employed.im, PNLD and all our clients and projects. Since absolute perfection is quite simply unachievable; then &#39;right for now&#39; if not &#39;right first time&#39; is usually the right way to go. If you would like to chat with PDMS about any of the items highlighted in this article, we&#39;d love to hear from you. Please contact us at sales@pdms.com or 01624 664000.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:57:03 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2526
The &#39;Right to be Forgotten&#39; and what it means for our digital future Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/oct/the-right-to-be-forgotten-and-what-it-means-for-our-digital-future/
Since the ruling, more than 142,000 removal requests have been made to Google, accounting for more than 490,000 web pages - with more than 18,000 of these requests being made by UK citizens. Something to hide On the face of it you might not think that the removal of data is such a big deal … until you remember that tragic blog you wrote on the meaning of life when you were fourteen, or those drunken pictures after your hen or stag do! Suddenly the prospect of preventing future employers judging you on your embarrassing past exploits seems very appealing. However for some people, it&#39;s far more serious - for example the teacher that was wrongly accused of child abuse, the woman that took her rapist to trial, or the person&#160;that&#39;s had their online identity stolen. You can sympathise with those that are plagued by an online perception over which they have no control, or who are permanently associated with devastating stories of their personal past - especially if these pages are the first thing to show up on their name search. Many privacy activists also believe that the move offers a welcome relief to vindictive online behaviour and the end to truly freely being able to publish defamatory and inaccurate online content without regulation. On the flipside, the acceptance of removal of content, such as politicians concealing catastrophic failures, or instances like the BBC Economics Editor Robert Peston having his blog post about former Merrill Lynch boss Stan O&#39;Neal wiped, is not so clean cut. Surely the eradication of such content conflicts public interest? After all, surely we have the right to know all the facts, both good and bad, about politicians and our business leaders, and not have them concealed due to reputational risks for the individuals involved. We also need to take a closer look at why people are applying for their online data to be removed. Just a month after the ruling, Chief Executive of Google Larry Page shared that 31% of requests in the UK and Ireland came from frauds or scams, 21% from those involved in arrests, convictions, violent and serious crimes, 12% regarding child pornography arrests, 5% from the government and police, and 2% from celebrities - many with questionable motives for wanting their data removed. The responsibility of privacy Before the ruling, Google argued that as a search engine, they simply index content that is already freely available on the web, and reiterated that all websites are already obliged to review any deletion requests themselves - it is the author of any material that bears the responsibility for removal requests - not third parties that host the sites or search engines that index it. In the case that earmarked and was referenced to during the Right to being Forgotten ruling, a Spanish citizen complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home was showing up in Google results and infringing his privacy rights as the proceedings against him were fully resolved. The citizen requested that the reference to his name or the entire page itself to be removed under the basis that they were irrelevant. The case closed with the Spanish court deciding in favour of the Spaniard, citing that the 1995 Data Protection Directive did apply to search engines as they are controllers of personal data - and that they had a responsibility to remove such personal data if requested. google right to be forgottenIt was also cited that search engines are responsible regardless of whether search engine servers are outside the EU or not - especially since advertising space on such search engines are offered inside the EU. Others have added that the burden of responsibility is not unreasonable, considering the profiteering made from such advertising space sold next to contentious posts and accounts of personal information. The top domain requests for deletion include data on Facebook, Badoo, YouTube and Google Groups - the latter two already being Google-owned and operated and with their own removal requests facility already in place. Despite the ruling already being passed, we can&#39;t help but wonder if that in certain circumstances, instead of blaming search engines, websites, journalists or even authors of unfavourable content, the real buck of responsibility for our online persona is down to our own actions and behaviours. Deleted data is still searchable! Unbeknown to most, removal requests are never truly deleted and are still searchable using google.com/ncr - which is a non-regional version of Google. This is because the ruling only applies to Europe and therefore the content is still available outside the EU. Whilst this seems to make a mockery of the entire ruling, we wonder how long it will be before the same right to be forgotten will be pursued further afield, and whether countries like America will rally around to value privacy more than freedom. The return of censorship? Despite the thumbs up from privacy campaigners, not everyone is happy with the right to be forgotten ruling and amongst the loudest protestors are those in the media sector, who claim that the removal of content fundamentally undermines freedom of expression. And while the right to be forgotten is not an absolute guarantee - for example only a third of deletion requests from the UK have been approved, in many cases Google are effectively revising history and albeit not at their liking, supporting censorship. Although it is clear to see both sides of the censorship V privacy argument, this does send an alarming warning bell with regards to the future of web content - both personal and otherwise, with large questions arising as to how the future of data is controlled - and not by the authors or even the websites, but at the whim of individuals mentioned within the content. Whilst we have always had censorship in some forms on the web in the form of copyrights, defamation, harassment, and obscene material, the scope of the censorship net has now greatly increased. Some people even fear that this could be the start of a new age - the &#39;dark web&#39;, whereby more and more online information will gradually disappear and be either replaced or omitted entirely. Without proper regulation, which is almost impossible on a ruling that is carried out on a case by case basis, will this be the first of a new wave of censorship rulings?Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:41:49 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2524
The skills gap and what our technology is doing about it Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2014/nov/the-skills-gap-and-what-our-technology-is-doing-about-it/
The &#39;Skills Gap&#39; as it has been coined, has been a problem on the Isle of Man for many years - a severe shortage of skilled individuals to meet specific employment market demands. Healthcare, manufacturing, ICT - these are all sectors that are crying out for a larger trained workforce. Whilst the Isle of Man&#39;s economy has enjoyed continuous growth over the past 10 years, our future prosperity is very much dependant on us addressing the skills gap in our local workforce. So what is being done to combat this shortage? Last year, the Isle of Man Government&#39;s Employability Group highlighted a clear need to &quot;provide better access through a website to careers education, advice and guidance and labour market information&quot;. In direct response to this, PDMS launched employed.im through their PDMS Employed platform in November 2013. employed.im, which is free for all members and employers, is a jobs and careers portal for anyone interested in job vacancies, career and training opportunities, and related news and events in the Isle of Man. Used by students, teachers, training providers, job seekers, job changers and employers, it is fast becoming the go to resource for anybody with an interest in our local labour market. It&#39;s been a year since its official launch, and individual member numbers now stand at over 3,000 users, with nearly 200 employers registered to post job vacancies. The aim of employed.im, which is a central hub for all employment related activities on the island, is to promote a unified approach to address the Isle of Man&#39;s skills gap and connect individuals to opportunities. Individual members can browse resources and read helpful careers information, find out about employment and training opportunities, create and store their CV and CPD records, practice their interview techniques with our &quot;self-interview&quot; video feature, set up vacancy email alerts and even message employers directly about opportunities. Employers on the other hand, benefit from being able to advertise their job vacancies, apprenticeships and work placement opportunities to all employed.im members, promote their company with a searchable business profile, and submit sector related content and resources for publication on the site. And all for free. Ever evolving, we are continuously looking for public, private and third sector organisations to engage with employed.im, and to collaborate with us to provide even more content and industry specific resources to our growing user community. Other opportunities include integrating employed.im with recruitment, sector or role specific promotional campaigns - not only to attract candidates already on the Island, but to encourage our graduates to return home and to bring new talent to our shores. A very real problem that our local employment market is facing is the mismatch of current students&#39; career choices over the availability of jobs. The Isle of Man sectors which face the greatest workforce challenges need to clearly demonstrate to our students why they should consider a career in their field. Without more information, access to better resources and promotions, this shortage won&#39;t translate into future candidates. One year on This past year our team has visited Isle of Man schools, given talks and presentations at national and international events, supported small and large local businesses, hosted employment and HR related seminars, and collaborated with many different organisations and charities - such as Junior Achievement, the Department of Economic Development, Search and Select Recruitment, the Department of Education and Children, Hamblin Employment Group, the Needle and the Isle of Man College. As a result, employed.im is becoming a key resource for secondary schools&#39; employment education, through Junior Achievement Isle of Man&#39;s &#39;Get a Job&#39; initiative. By the time you&#39;re reading this we will have just launched a new employed.im website homepage - which expands our &#39;real life&#39; features of successful career and work experience stories, giving you an insight into the career path others have chosen or are aspiring to go into. We&#39;ve also been approached to discuss how employed.im could work in the UK and Scotland to join up disparate local authority resources, initiatives and employment objectives. This is all fantastic news, but there&#39;s still more we - and you - could do. If you&#39;re an employer, and you haven&#39;t already, you should make the most of this fantastic opportunity and get involved. Create an account for free, tell our members about your company, post your jobs and contribute to your sector by submitting your news, events and resources to the employed.im team. Individuals - sign up for free and start to take control of your own career. Explore the opportunities on the Island that you don&#39;t yet know about, and get yourself noticed by publishing your CV and video - or simply take advantage of our free career resources. Training providers, recruitment companies, associations and institutes - do you have a presence on employed.im? If not, why not? It&#39;s free and you&#39;re missing out. With so many more exciting developments to come, have you joined the employed.im conversation? To sign up, visit www.employed.im. Follow employed.im on Facebook and Twitter, or join us on LinkedIn.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:29:10 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2514
Enterprise apps – mobility, efficiency and productivity, available in the App store now Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/apr/enterprise-apps-mobility-efficiency-and-productivity-available-in-the-app-store-now/
To date the development of enterprise apps - mobile apps used by businesses often to support critical business functions - has lagged behind more consumer orientated mobile apps. However, many industry analysts suggest that the tide is about to turn. Researchers from &quot;Strategic Analytics&quot; predict that the mobile enterprise business application market will nearly double from $31 billion in 2012 to $61 billion by 2018. This isn&#39;t surprising when you consider that market penetration of tablets is growing much faster than any previous computing platform. Gartner predicts that in just 2 years&#39; time, a massive 70% of mobile workers will be using tablets, whilst Forrester predicts that within the same time span there will be fast approaching 900 million tablets in use. According to a whitepaper by BlackBerry - &quot;Mobile apps are the future&quot;, employers are now realising that their employees&#39; location and endpoint no longer needs to hinder job efficiency and growth. In fact, new research demonstrates that IT organisations will dedicate at least 25% of their software budget to mobile application development, deployment and management by 2017. What&#39;s even more interesting is that 30-40% of organisations deploying more than five mobile applications in 2015 are predicted to realise substantial business agility benefits. Business leaders are beginning to recognise that enterprise mobile apps can help transform their organisations by improving productivity, delivering competitive advantages, improving customer service whilst also benefiting their employees. Currently, businesses are turning to mobile apps to help deliver productivity and efficiency gains. Back in 2011, Aberdeen, reporting on over 240 enterprise organisations, found that through the use of enterprise apps in the workplace, productivity had increased by up to 45% and operational efficiency by 44%. However, industry analysts believe that over the course of the next few years, mobile enterprise application development will no longer become a choice but a business necessity if organisations want to remain competitive. A very real issue with mobile enterprise application development, however, is the difficulty in joining up companies&#39; existing IT infrastructure and strategy with the pace of mobile enterprise developments. IT Managers are faced with the challenge of how best to &quot;mobilise&quot; all of their line of business applications - many of which will be traditional Windows programs. Indeed many companies will find that integration with back office functions falls short of the demands of complicated mobile solutions, where data is hidden behind firewalls and layers of software. This is one of the main reasons behind the estimation that a massive 45% of mobile enterprise app initiatives will be delayed or over budget this year. Enterprise mobile apps are often more complex than other apps and there&#39;s a lot of work needed &quot;under the bonnet&quot;. Mobile apps require back-end services such as identity management, database integrations and push notifications. Therefore successful app development teams use short development cycles, rapid prototyping and user feedback, utilising a wide skill set covering both programming, integration architecture design and interface design. That&#39;s why, when you are looking for a company to work with to develop your app, it&#39;s essential that you choose a partner who not only understands the complexities of the &quot;back end&quot; integration, but the importance of data security and the need for great &quot;front end&quot; graphic design. App developers also need to be in sync with the pace of iOS versions and the growing plethora of mobile devices - it&#39;s no longer IT Managers that dictate the software and operating systems that companies use - but the market and their customers! At PDMS we are working with a number of clients to deliver mobile apps that provide a new interface to existing legacy systems - delivering tools to help their employees do their jobs and improving customer loyalty. If you are considering investing in a mobile app for your business, talk to us to find out more about what&#39;s involved. We&#39;d be happy to share our insights and help ensure that your enterprise mobile app delivers real business benefit.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:12:16 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2512
Internet.org: Bringing the Internet to the World’s Poor Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/may/internetorg-bringing-the-internet-to-the-world-s-poor/
However amongst these challenges is also the growing need to bring the internet to the world&#39;s poor - there are currently 4.3 billion people without it! So great is the perceived necessity of internet connectively and its potential progressive uses across the developing world, that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has even declared internet connectivity to be a human right and, through the launch of &#39;Internet.org&#39;, is aiming to bring free access to less developed counties. So what&#39;s the big idea? With only 2.7 billion of the world&#39;s 7 billion people having access to the internet, Mark Zuckerberg has partnered with Samsung, Ericsson, Microsoft and several other big telecoms businesses to launch a free internet service &#39;Internet.org&#39; for developing countries, which has already been launched in Zambia, India, Colombia, Guatemala, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines and Indonesia. Since most people in these countries only own (often basic) phones but not computers, these companies have teamed up to absorb the data costs associated with handling website traffic in these countries. By working together to make their mobile networks more efficient, these companies overcome the lack of infrastructure and funds for investment in fast data networks in such emerging markets. As a result, individuals in developing countries who can&#39;t afford to pay for the internet, are provided with low-data use of selected internet services for free, through Internet.org. Simply put, bandwidth for these website visitors are paid for to the network operator by the websites themselves - so the website users get to surf at no cost, albeit they can only access a handful of sites that have paid to be there. The internet in developing countries: why it matters This stuff really matters and for a number of reasons. Firstly, connectivity is directly linked to economic growth; the World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband penetration results in a 1.38% increase in a country&#39;s Gross Domestic Product (&quot;GDP&quot;). The internet fosters productivity and enables innovation across all sectors of the economy. In developing countries it has often spurred and enabled creative solutions to overcome the limitations arising from economic constraints and limited infrastructure. Secondly, as Zuckerberg has rightly pointed out, whilst connectivity in the West means the ability to keep up-to-date with Twitter, in the developing world it has far more reaching consequences such as the means to connect remote communities, deliver public services, facilitate freedom of speech, forecast the weather, access healthcare information, raise medical help and provide education resources. In short, it has the potential to lift millions from poverty. It also matters because the numbers are astronomical. In one report by Deloitte (admittedly commissioned by Facebook), they estimated that the economic activity resulting from internet connectivity in developing countries could generate $2.2 trillion to GDP and 140 million new jobs. Altruism V commercialisation? So this is all hunky-dory right? Well ... perhaps not. Internet.org has been criticised for violating &#39;net neutrality&#39; and privacy. The principle of &#39;net neutrality&#39; is that internet service providers should enable access toallwebsites without favouring or blocking competing sites. However, Internet.org&#39;s plan was to restrict and put a limit on which websites could be accessed - at least it was originally. In the face of a massive backlash in India, Facebook opened up Internet.org to allow other website developers to join the Internet.org platform. However, such websites must qualify Facebook&#39;s stringent criteria before they are approved. For example, websites must not be data intensive, they must run on cheap phones and they must encourage exploration of the broader internet - essentially encouraging users to pay for wider internet access. So whilst delivering a limited version of the internet for free can be viewed as altruistic - and is certainly being pushed by Facebook that way, is it right that these users can only see a handful of sites that have essentially paid to be there? Without access to other parts of the internet? Anti-Internet.org campaigners have taken the (perhaps) extreme view that providing such an exclusive version of the internet to developing countries is a charge of &#39;economic racism&#39;. That is, the creation of a poor internet for poor people - offering a shoddy, stunted version of the real thing and forcing individuals within these countries to fall victim to the monopoly of Facebook, under the guises of corporate social responsibility. It has also been accused of inhibiting real social, political and economic opportunities and benefits that could be facilitated by the internet - its original professed purpose. Another criticism has been that Internet.org has prevented small companies from being able to access the platform, stifling competition with Facebook attempting to regulate the internet. Reinforcing the fear of an internet ruled by Facebook is the research that 65% of Nigerians, 61% of Indonesians, and 58% of Indians actually agree with the statement that &quot;Facebookisthe Internet&quot; - compared with only 5% in the US. In effect, millions of Internet.org users have no concept of the internet as an independent vehicle from Facebook - and know of nothing else. That&#39;s a pretty shocking revelation when you consider that Facebook&#39;s intention was to bring the internet to the world&#39;s poor - not just Facebook! Another worrying fact is that Internet.org still favours Facebook&#39;s own services over its rivals, both through restricting what&#39;s on Internet.org and partnering with telecoms businesses to provide free internet services to grab more Facebook users, when it isn&#39;t free for others. What&#39;s more is that Facebook can track Internet.org users&#39; complete online activity, with the ability to share this data with its telecoms business partners and Governments. The core of the issue: someone has to pay So whilst Facebook is profiting from the launch of Internet.org as a better connected global population, in reality it can be seen as self-serving, ultimately leading to more Facebook users from which it can make money from - by using their data to sell advertising. Facebook has spent years developing this business model rather than charging for its services upfront. However ultimately, the hard fact is that somebody has to pay for the internet, and in countries with no money, without Facebook&#39;s Internet.org, many would go without. So the question comes down to what matters most - connectivity or neutrality? Is it the case that the benefits of connectivity outweigh the concerns over net neutrality and privacy for the world&#39;s poor? Somebody has to pay, even if it leaves a bitter aftertaste. Conceivably the real gripe is that the whole concept of Internet.org is simply long term profit making marketed as philanthropy. At the same time, it is difficult to deny that Internet.org marks a step in the right direction; connectivity does need to happen, and it&#39;s good that Facebook has stuck its neck out to make things happen. However, most importantly we must consider the legacy of the project, and ensure that the restricted internet does not permanently monopolise the internet in these countries, which account for 60% of the world&#39;s population. Indeed if Internet.org reaches the goal of facilitating real economic growth in these developing countries, enabling them in time to pay for their own internet services, we need to consider what will happen then, and how it will be regulated.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 15:50:18 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2510
PDMS in the public sector Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/jun/pdms-in-the-public-sector/
What is the G-Cloud? The Government Cloud (&quot;G-Cloud&quot;) is a UK Government initiative aimed at improving and standardising the way central and local government procure and deliver information technology, by allowing better like-for-like comparison of services and products offered by around 2000 SMEs and larger IT suppliers through the &#39;Digital Marketplace&#39;. The G-Cloud is also intended to reduce public sector dependence on large and lengthy IT contracts, decreasing costs, speeding up deployment and ultimately, increasing flexibility to meet service demand. With a concentrated focus on a procurement criteria emphasising better value for money, the G-Cloud seeks to improve technologically enabled public services and service delivery. Now in its sixth iteration since 2012, the initiative has channelled expenditure of &#163;336m in the course of one year during 2014 alone, up from &#163;86m. According to Tony Singleton, Director of Government Digital Services, this equates to savings of up to 50% for over a third of local government organisations who have used the G-Cloud to procure IT. G-Cloud and the public sector Whilst these latest statistics are incredibly promising, what it does say is that a massive two thirds of local government organisations are yet to procure IT through the G-Cloud, despite a very positive uptake by central Government, who account for 76% of all G-Cloud purchases. In fact, Tony Singleton commented in 2013 that only 20% of local government authorities had even heard of the G-Cloud, and to date spend on the G-Cloud only represents about 4% of total public sector ICT spend. How could procurement via the G-Cloud impact me? In terms of impact, engaging with the G-Cloud makes procurement less risky, as suppliers are approved and offerings re-listed every 6 months, ensuring high transparency of products and services. Procuring through the G-Cloud also ensures public sector access to the latest technologies and solutions, therefore encouraging dynamic and responsive procurement. Perhaps more importantly, G-Cloud procurement represents a huge opportunity for the ongoing success of Government organisations and agencies, at a time when the need to find huge cost savings across all areas of expenditure is high on the agenda. Embracing the G-Cloud allows any public sector organisation to move quickly and at low cost, delivering better public services to the taxpayer through affordable, valuable and workable solutions. Working with PDMS on the G-Cloud Engaging with the G-Cloud initiative with supplier status since its launch, we are pleased to offer Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service and Specialist Cloud Services via the Digital Marketplace, including: Software development Foundations TM web based business systems Umbraco Content Management Systems DoxShare cloud-based document management MARIS international ship registry solution PaySolve payroll software PDMS Employed online employability platform Hosting and Managed Services With a strong track record in delivering public sector efficiencies through technology for the past 21 years, we have helped the UK Government reduce IT costs and improve security as part of business and digital transformation agendas across a variety of projects. Some of the public sector clients we have worked with include: Aberdeen Airport Hertfordshire Constabulary National Health Service (Commercial Medicines Unit) National Health Service (Purchasing and Supply Agency) Police National Legal Database Sport Scotland Staffordshire County Council UK Crown Commercial Service sdjhbds sdjhbsdf jshdbfsdf With offices in the Isle of Man, London and Glasgow, we&#39;re an SME that&#39;s proud to provide real innovation to both central and local government agencies. As long term technology partners to our public sector clients, we take the time to understand the issues facing Government organisations. Further help If you are working within the public sector and are yet to engage with the G-Cloud and Digital Marketplace, and would like us to help, speak to us about your requirements. We&#39;ve already helped public sector organisations such as the University of West Scotland procure through the G-Cloud for the very first time. You can also download our free guide for public sector organisations: &#39;Everything you need to know about G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace&#39; (PDF). This guide explains in simple terms, the benefits of using the G-Cloud, who can use the G-Cloud and how the entire process works. For more information, please get in touch.Fri, 09 Oct 2015 14:52:03 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2505
PDMS secures place on new Government G-Cloud framework (2012) News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2012/feb/pdms-secures-place-on-new-government-g-cloud-framework-2012/
The G-Cloud Framework allows the UK public sector to buy cloud-based ICT services through the Government&#39;s new online CloudStore*. PDMS have secured a place to deliver both, Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions and Specialist Cloud services. Anybody across the public sector who is looking for a cloud-based document management system, for example, to help share and control their documents securely, can now purchase PDMS&#39; Controlled Document Portal solution quickly and easily; without having to go through a long and expensive procurement process. The G-Cloud Framework is an integral part of the Government&#39;s G-Cloud programme, and aims to revolutionize the purchasing, management and delivery of public sector IT services. It represents a whole new approach to Government procurement where defined &#39;cloud services&#39; can be purchased as commodity IT services, with known costs from the outset and with maximum 12 month contracts. With a key aim of encouraging competition and ensuring transparency, service details and pricing information are available to all on CloudStore. &quot;PDMS are really pleased to have been selected as a supplier on the G-Cloud framework and to be participating in the early ground breaking stages of this exciting new programme&quot;, commented, PDMS&#39; Software as a Service Manager and Director, Tim Nicholson. &quot;We have a great track record in delivering managed services and believe that our cloud-based Controlled Document Portal, as one of our examples of this approach, can benefit a wide range of public sector users, ranging from smaller organizations right through to larger central Government departments. We are continuing to invest in the ongoing development of our cloud-based products and services and will consequently be launching further new products very soon&quot;. Chris Gledhill, PDMS&#39; Managing Director also added, &quot;We&#39;ve been impressed by the way the open, fast and efficient way the procurement for the G-Cloud framework itself has been run, which has helped encourage participation from a very broad range of suppliers. The new G-Cloud Framework will make it much easier for Government as a whole to take advantage of the great cloud services and cost effective products that companies like PDMS have to offer now and in the future.&quot; *Effective October 2014, the CloudStore is now known as the Digital Marketplace.Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:42:57 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2472
New COO, Peter Quayle set to be a driving force in PDMS News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jul/new-coo-peter-quayle-set-to-be-a-driving-force-in-pdms/
Peter is a passionate, enthusiastic and highly knowledgeable IT professional, latterly working within Change Management both on island and in the UK. Peter previously held the position of COO&#160;for a Swiss company, with board level responsibility for Group IT and Operations, covering 20 offices and over 1000 staff. The new role follows PDMS&#39; continued success in growing the business both in the Isle of Man and in the UK. Peter, who is particularly pleased to be joining the company as it is investing in the development of new services and products, will be responsible for leading and co-ordinating the operations of PDMS Isle of Man, as well as contributing to the technical and commercial strategy for the PDMS Group. Commenting on the appointment, Peter said, &quot;There are many fascinating trends in software development right now, so it&#39;s an exciting time for me to join the team at PDMS and look to commercialise these opportunities. With technologies&#39; increasingly important role in managing the complexity businesses face across all sectors, my top priority is to make sure our operations reflect our passion for solving business problems with excellence in software engineering&quot;. Chris Gledhill, PDMS&#39; Managing Director added, &quot;Peter brings with him a wealth of experience which will make a hugely positive and valuable contribution the business. The new COO role will help to ensure the practical application of PDMS&#39; strategy and commercial approach as both our client base and technology solutions continue to expand&quot;.Mon, 21 Sep 2015 10:46:22 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2400
Find your ideal job on manx.net and isleofman.com with employed.im News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jul/find-your-ideal-job-on-manxnet-and-isleofmancom-with-employedim/
Two of the Island&#39;s most popular websites - manx.net and isleofman.com - will soon feature the latest local job vacancies thanks to a partnership between Manx Telecom and employed.im. Manx Telecom&#160;owns both&#160;manx.net&#160;and&#160;isleofman.com&#160;- the former is primarily focused on providing news (including on demand news channel MTTV), weather and classifieds for local residents, while the latter is focused on an off-Island audience which includes potential inward investors and those looking to live and work here. Details about job vacancies will be sourced from the Island&#39;s jobs and careers portal&#160;employed.im, which is developed and supported by PDMS. Employed.im is the Isle of Man&#39;s free careers portal for students, job seekers, job changers and employers, able to support members throughout their entire career. It can be used as a free resource to update and manage your CV, or to stay in the loop for careers related events, resources and training opportunities.&#160;Island employers, large and small, can create a business profile and post job opportunities on the employed.im site for free. More can be found out about employed.im and it&#39;s benefits here. David Smith, Manx Telecom Marketing Director, commented: &quot;Whilst unemployment may be low on the Island, there is still significant demand for job vacancy listings both from businesses and employees. Rather than have to wait for printed job listings, our online channels allow people to search at any time. We&#39;re delighted to be working with PDMS - it&#39;s a great example of two Isle of Man technology companies collaborating to help local businesses recruit the staff they need to grow, and to help employees find the right job for them.&quot; Chris Gledhill, PDMS Managing Director, added: &quot;Our ambition is to make employed.im the comprehensive source of information on jobs, training, work experience and job opportunities in the Isle of Man. Membership is completely free for individuals and for Manx businesses. This tie-in with Manx Telecom is great news for our members as it provides a huge amount of additional exposure for their vacancies - at no cost!&quot; The manx.net homepage will feature a &#39;jobs&#39; tab and there will be a new jobs section within the local and business areas of isleofman.com. It will be possible to search for job vacancies by sector, tenure, contract type, and by the date that the vacancies were posted. On average, manx.net generates more than three million page views every month, so it&#39;s a great place for job vacancies to be seen.Mon, 21 Sep 2015 10:44:23 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2397
PDMS secures place on Digital Services Framework II News &amp; Media Headlineshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/news-media-headlines/2015/jul/pdms-secures-place-on-digital-services-framework-ii/
PDMS has announced that they have secured a place on the Digital Services Framework II, to deliver agile software development services. PDMS has already been on the first iteration of the Digital Services Framework since 2013. Suppliers on the Digital Services Framework must meet high quality standards to ensure that they can help design and build digital services in an agile way, whilst complying with expectations set in the Service Design Manual and Digital by Default Service Standard. The aim of the framework is to provide a speedy and flexible route for the UK public sector to buy, design, build and deliver digital services. It also supports suppliers in delivering the best project outcomes as part of an open and fair marketplace. This second iteration of the framework includes some important changes, focusing on simplifying digital capabilities and allowing buying teams to request demonstrations and test various aspects of the supplier&#39;s proposal as part of the evaluation stage. For more information about PDMS in the public sector, please visit the G-Cloud section of our website.Mon, 21 Sep 2015 10:20:41 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2393
Women in Software: here come the girls? Insightshttp://www.pdms.com/news-media/insights/2015/aug/women-in-software-here-come-the-girls/
Yesterday, I attended a very interesting presentation by Professor Margaret Ross, Emeritus Professor of Software Quality at Southampton Solent University and an active member of the British Computer Society (BSC) (pictured right). Professor Ross is a Committee member of the BSCWomen Specialist Group and she addressed the issue of gender diversity in the IT and telecoms industry, where women make up less than 20% of the IT workforce. The presentation reminded me of an article I penned way back in 2008 on this very subject. It outlined how the number of women studying and working in technology was steadily declining - citing well documented reasons such as gender stereotyping, the way technology was taught in schools, short comings in careers advice, a lack of high profile female role models and challenges with workplace cultures. At that time, social media was still in its infancy - we were just starting to poke each other on Facebook and a tweet was still just a noise made by birds. However, I was optimistic that the growing trend towards social networking would help encourage more girls to consider a career in IT, as they got used to interacting with technology as part of their daily lives and, consequently, might consider IT to be a more appealing career choice. So seven years down the line, have things changed? Well, no and yes. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that In 2004, women made up 19% of all undergraduate Computer Science students, by 2009 that figure had dipped to 16% and, depressingly, in 2014 females accounted for only 15% of those applying for Computer Science Degrees. According to the recent &quot;Women in Technology Project Research Report 2015&quot; published by Tech Women UK - whilst women&#39;s representation in the workforce has increased to 46%, women only make up 15% of ICT professionals. Research from E-Skills (Women in IT Scorecard) shows that the UK is lower than the EU norm when it comes to female representation in IT positions. A recent online recruiter&#39;s poll showed that women make up just one in twenty applicants for IT jobs in the UK. These worryingly low numbers are reflected in the makeup of individual tech companies around the UK and beyond. Let&#39;s take a look at some of the big names in the world of technology - women comprise 29.1% of Microsoft&#39;s workforce, but only 17% work in technical positions and just 23% of women hold leadership roles. Women fill 10% of Twitter&#39;s technical jobs and whilst 30% of Google&#39;s entire workforce is female, only 18% of women work in its technology divisions. These statistics quite clearly demonstrate that the challenge of gender diversity and equality in the technology industry has not yet been successfully addressed. Given the complex range of factors - many of them cultural and sociological - which discourage girls from even considering a career in IT, there was never going to be a quick fix. However, in the last few years there has been a renewed impetus by industry bodies (including the BCS and TechUK), charities, the private sector and government to actively address this issue and engage more girls and women in STEM subjects (STEM subjects are Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), with a particular emphasis on technology. They are championing a range of strategies, programmes and projects to encourage women to work in technology - whether coding, business analysis, project management or in another of the many varied roles. This drive ranges from regional events - with a core in the Tech City area of London - such as coding clubs including Code for Life (aimed at schools), Code First: Girls (targeted at university students), events, mentoring programmes and incubator organsiations. In Glasgow earlier this month ScotlandIS held its first Smart STEM event where over 500 girls from ages 11 to 10, were encouraged to take STEM subjects at school and further education. They got the opportunity to take part in workshops such as Design your own twitter word cloud&#39; and &quot;I need an App&quot;, all hosted by inspiring female leaders. On a national level, the BCS are championing a range of initiatives from influencing the school curriculum with a new computer syllabus to providing a range of networking and career management events for women around the country. They are also promoting role models - featuring women who work in technology through posters in schools and on Wikipedia. In the private sector, larger companies such as Accenture, CapGemini and Cisco (to name just a few), all have a range of initiatives to encourage and support women in technology. These include mentoring programmes, support networks and sponsorship - for example, Network Rail offers university sponsorship to girls between the age of 16 and 18. Last year Google launched a $50 million &quot;Made with Code&quot; initiative to teach young girls how to code. So why the upsurge in activity to attract women into tech now? Because it matters to the economic growth of our country, now more than ever - we need more people to work in technology full stop. There is a shortage of medium and high level digital skills in the UK which urgently needs addressing if the UK is to retain a competitive advantage in a global market. This isn&#39;t going to be solved by recruiting from only half of the available resource pool. According to a recent report form the Lords Select Committee, chaired by Baroness Sally Morgan - increasing the number of women in IT could generate an extra &#163;2.6 billion each year for the UK economy. It&#39;s a well-documented fact that more gender balanced workforces generate better results - a more diverse set of employees gives organisations a more diverse set of skills which improves productivity and financial performance. Technology companies with more women in their management teams have a 34% higher return on investment. In addition to the economic benefits, the technology companies need a diverse workforce to properly understand their customers. It&#39;s a dynamic sector which relies on new ideas and perspectives - wouldn&#39;t design and product development benefit from input from 52% of their potential client base? A shortage of skilled IT professionals is a real issue here on the Island too. ICT and eBusiness are rapidly growing sectors of the Isle of Man&#39;s economy and the Government&#39;s Vision 2020 strategy predicts the creation of 100+ new jobs in the sector every year over the next few years. MICTA (the Manx ICT Association) are looking at how they can develop a skilled workforce to meet the growing demands of the digital economy, and attracting and retaining more women in the sector is definitely high on their agenda. There are a range of local initiatives, which are aimed at both nurturing an interest in technology and supporting career development in IT for all, whether male or female. These include a weekly Code Club for kids, a Code Bus to provide even more opportunities to learn coding and the appointment of an &#39;ICT&#39; Champion to support the work of ICT teachers in high schools across the Island. PDMS recently hosted a visit by the Isle of Man&#39;s IT Career Ready (previously known as the IT Career Academy) - a scheme to help prepare A level students for a career in IT by providing practical support, business mentors, visits to businesses and paid internships to local students. I would like to think that in another 7 years&#39; time, this topic would be a non-starter for an article - as the number of girls studying for computer related A levels and degrees increases and the workforce of our technology companies becomes more balanced - having tapped into the large pool of previously underutilised female talent.Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:11:35 GMThttp://www.pdms.com/2299